Hide and Seek
by Lacuna77
Summary: Tenth DoctorDS9 Crossover A despondent Doctor decides to drown his sorrows at a bar on a rather familiar space station, until an ancient enemy shows up....
1. Chapter 1

_**First Ever Story – Extra Special thanks to Rosie-bec for beta-ing this story for me (I suggest you read her stories – Wicked!) Anyhow, Please read and review.**_

Disclaimer: I own neither the The Doctor, nor anyone from the Star Trek Universe!!

_**Polly**_

Mero Sesra was glad to be leaving. She'd never been happy aboard the station – too many ghosts. Too many memories. Sure, you could paint the walls, give it a brand spanking new name – a Starfleet name, no less – yet to Sesra, even after four years, it was still Terok Nor. The strange thing was, she'd never been aboard during the occupation.. Her family had lived in the mountains of the Hedrikspool province, sheltered from the Cardassian patrol ship's sensors by the Kelvinite deposits in the mountains. But life hadn't been easy. Her father had aided the resistance, harbouring those most sought by the Cardassians for interrogation and eventual execution. Endless nights, hiding in the caves, starting at the sound of the smallest rock fall – At every sound, a cold fist had wrapped itself around her stomach and squeezed, not letting go until the sun rose the following morning.

First, she'd heard the stories. Then she'd met the survivors. Those cell members who'd been to Terok Nor and lived to tell about it. The haunted looks in their eyes, their ragged bodies barely hiding their ribcages. The fear in their eyes. Fear and rage. The starvation pits. The random 'questioning' by Gul Dukat, the Ore Processor. Never having experienced the horrors of the station herself, her mind was allowed free rein, her imagination breathing darkness into that which reached for her in her dreams. When Sesra had been old enough to hold a phaser, barely entering her teens, she'd asked her father for the night watch. Always the night watch. Her father had praised her for her devotion to the resistance, but the truth had been much simpler. Her nightmares were of dark places and shadows. She'd believed that if she'd slept during the dark hours the nightmares would be stronger, the shadows given form, the grey Cardassian hand reaching, always reaching-

But then the Cardassians had left, and the provisional council had invited Starfleet here. To help rebuild Bajor. Funny she'd thought at the time, that the federation arrives with its shiny starships _after_ the Cardassians leave. She'd viewed them as cowards and apologists. But then Kira Nerys had been installed as the Bajoran/Federation liaison officer. Within one week Kira had returned to Bajor asking for volunteers to stand alongside the Starfleet security teams. She'd given a rousing speech to those assembled, questioning whether the proud people of Bajor would allow themselves to be baby-sat, and spoon-fed, and nursed by Starfleet. Sesra had stood in the assembly hall of the shaktar province and cheered with the best of them.

She'd learned a lot about the federation in the four years since she'd enlisted. Their customs, their battles – that which they faced outside of this one small sector. The Borg. The Romulans. Omnipotent beings from another reality. To this day she still couldn't believe that Cpt Sisko had actually floored a member of the Q continuum. Now she was going home. Her tour had finished, and what with the new situation with the Klingons as well as the Dominion lurking on the other side of the celestial temple she felt she'd earned some peace. Real peace. She'd seen bloodshed to equal sunsets, and now felt it was time to consult with Vedeks – to find a new life for herself. If the federation had taught her anything, it was to aspire. To better one's self. It had taken over a decade of violence to teach her that what she really desired most was serenity. To tend a little garden, to sit on the porch drinking lemonade, to have children maybe…

She walked across the promenade for the last time, nodding and smiling occasionally at her now-former comrades. Never again. The thought struck her and she stifled a smile. The times she had walked past the Klingon Coffee shop and, just for a moment in her mind, it had disappeared to be replaced with a guard office – the gray-skinned Cardassians walking toward her, leering, the hands…

She stepped into the turbolift. "Habitat ring" she told the computer. The door closed and the car sped her to her destination.

The doors opened to reveal the gray walls of the corridor (military grey no doubt) just outside her quarters. The corridor was deserted, but being mid afternoon station time this was not unusual – the shift change occurring at sixteen-hundred hours. Sesra was just about to enter her quarters to grab her kit bag, her last artefacts, when-

"I'm cold" said a voice behind her. Turning on her heel and adopting a defensive stance she saw…a little girl. A Bajoran child, no more than six.

"Where are your quarters?" asked Sesra smiling, hoping not to intimidate the child.

The little girl shrugged.

"You're not supposed to talk strangers, right?" Sesra whispered and winked.

The little girl smiled.

"I'm lieutenant…I'm Sesra" she started again, remembering she'd just been discharged, "and now were not strangers…?" Sesra left thequestion hanging in the air, but the child was not forthcoming.

"Are you playing?" she asked.

The little girl smiled again.

"Can I play, too?"

The little girl smiled and reached a hand forward, when…

"Hey Sesra, don't think just cause your not an officer anymore I won't be cleaning you out at the poker table!!"

"Winters, you can barely clean your uniform without help" She laughed.

"Fancy a quick 'Risa Rainbow' before disembarking?" Winters asked. Sesra liked Winters. He'd always been kind. Flirtatious yes, but kind not overbearing.

"I'll just see this little…"But the child had vanished.

"She was just here. Right here! I think she was playing"

Winters looked first left, then right.

"Well then, if she can vanish like that, she's definitely gonna win. I wonder if Quark would take odds….".

Sesra punched his shoulder playfully.

"You can ask him when you go and order our 'rainbows' – one for the road and all that"

"Yes Sir. Lieutenant Sir" He Saluted floridly, grinned and almost skipped out of sight.

The doors to Sesra's quarters opened at her approach and she stepped inside.

"Lights level 2" – Unexpectedly, the lights didn't respond. Great, she thought.

"Okay come out guys, thanks for the party!!!" She darted to her drapes and pulled to reveal ……nothing.

A child's giggle.

"Alright this isn't funny this…" Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a pair of small feet behind the other drapes. Sesra crept up, yanked the drapes aside.

"Gotcha! You're in a lot of trouble, sneaking into an off…another persons quarters"

"Will you help me hide?" the child asked, "I'm so cold".

The child reached a hand toward Sesra, and Sesra instinctively reached for it. Her hand clasped the child's but something didn't feel right. Her hand went numb, the coldness spreading past her wrist, her elbow. She tried to let go but was almost bonded to the child. A dizziness, a buzzing spread through her conciousness and she felt herself slipping away, like her mind was being shutdown idea by idea yet ransacked at the same time.

She looked up from her hand to the childs face. And saw Hell itself………….


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor was bored.

"I can't be bored!" exclaimed the Doctor, jumping up from the flight couch, and hurtling over to the control console. With a flurry of activity he began bashing buttons, spinning spinney things, and kneading knobs until the pre-flight sequence was keyed in.

"Right then" exclaimed the doctor to no–one in particular, "People to do, places to…hang on…that's not right. Okay, where to?"

After a few minutes had passed the Doctor's manic energy was gone, and shoulders slumped, he trudged back over to the flight couch. He just couldn't think of anything to do. It was funny he thought, that he could bridge the distance between Judas Priest and Jesus Christ in a heartbeat. Countless worlds, and not just that, but countless _times_ within the histories of countless worlds were open to him yet nothing seemed to offer him a respite from this, this…

"Melancholy. I am melancholic. My collies have melons. Oh well, one thing for it…" The Doctor left the control room.

Ten minutes later he returned.

"Ok. Where is it?"

The coral ambience that was the interior of the TARDIS offered no answer to his question, not that he had really expected her to.

"Well that's just hunky-dory. Nothing to do, and now, nothing to drink."

The TARDIS had hidden the alcohol supplies amongst it's multitude of 'dimensionally transcendent' rooms. When he had walked in and reached into the cabinet for a fine, first-batch Budweiser he'd saving for about three regenerations, he'd found in his hand a tube of toothpaste. Rose's toothpaste. How he missed Rose. It wasn't her smile, or her sense of humour he missed at that moment – not even her heart. He missed what she'd allowed him to feel. Things he never had believed he'd feel again. After the end, he'd expected to die. His TARDIS had been damaged, and he himself had been exposed to extremely high levels of radiation – the result of Gallifrey's sun exploding, and his…close proximity…to the explosion. Life was the worst of surprises. Waking up in a new body, entirely alone in the universe.

Then he'd met Rose and all that had changed. She'd known everything – he'd told her. Reluctantly, he admitted to himself with a sad smile. She hadn't judged him for any of the things he had done. Donna had gotten it partially right. He did need someone to stop him. But not to act as a restraint or a conscience, but as a mirror. Rose had never been there to hold him back; all it took was her presence to make him question his decisions as he made them. The look in her eyes when he managed yet again to save the day, but without losing more of himself in the solution. There wasn't much he couldn't deal with, he knew. But Rose had always helped him find the better way; the right way.

Donna. He'd only left her a relative day ago yet that day was now playing in the forefront of his mind. A mad, decisive, action-packed adventure, something to take his mind away from his loss. It was one phrase that stuck in his head –

"She's impressed by a new flavour of Pringles!!"

It must be nice, he thought, to have the kind of life where you wouldn't have to worry about Daleks, and Cybermen, and Beast's and the endless sequence of fleeing for one's life again and again. That's what he liked about humans. They lived as if even the tiniest of minutia held the greatest treasure, and just to be alive to behold it, then to find it all over again in something else gave them not only a reason to exist, but to push the boundaries in search of new treasures, new horizons, new…Pringles.

And here he was. Sat, alone and miserable. Seeing no purpose to exist other than existence itself. If he'd been upset he'd have cried. If he'd been angry he'd have broken things. But all he could do was sit. Sit and slowly fade away. He was alone, and by that fact he didn't have a reason.

Imperceptibly, the lights dimmed slightly then came back to where they were. Even if he was content to sit and rot, like a time-travelling Ms Haversham, the TARDIS was not.

"Okay girl, you win. Let's go for a spin"

The Doctor sauntered over to the control console, the pre-flight sequence still already keyed. He placed his hands upon the dimensional sequencers, two turquoise ,shaped balls a foot apart , imbedded in the console. With a sharp motion, the doctor drew both hands down spinning the balls madly. As they span he closed his eyes, waited a few seconds, and slammed down hard on the flight-initiation injector.

"Let's see what's out there"

….


	3. Chapter 3

_Hi guys- Please review this for me as I have no idea whether this is working or not!!! Polly_

_Captain's Log: Stardate 49017.3_

_It has been six days since the Klingon Taskforce led by Chancellor Gowron was successfully repelled, and life on the station is slowly returning to normal. Business on the promenade is picking up again and the Orb of Prophecy, evacuated with the civilians to Bajor during this crisis, has been restored to its rightful place in the Bajoran temple. Chief O'Brien assures me repairs are progressing ahead of schedule, with only the disused sections on the lower decks lacking optimal sensor cover at this time. With the Klingon fleet back within the boundaries of the empire and little activity from the sensors in the Gamma quadrant, it is my hope that things will remain quiet for a time, allowing my crew to recover from recent events._

Benjamin Sisko disengaged his log recorder, reached for his baseball and rolled it around on his desk with his palm. The leather was cool against its obsidian surface. Comforting. Sisko leaned back in his chair allowing himself to sink in it. With a smooth motion, he rolled the ball off of the near end of the desk, flipped his hand, and threw the ball as high as his office ceiling would allow. With an expansive grin, he deftly caught it and replaced it on its stand. 'And to think a week ago we all faced death' mused Sisko to himself, 'and here I am tossing my baseball'. And that was perfectly alright. He'd learned a long time ago, early in his career, to enjoy the trivial things; an hour to play ball; to watch his favourite jazz holo – the little things. For you never knew what the universe was going to throw at you next, especially in…

"Dax to Sisko"

Sisko sighed, smiling at the uncanny timing.

"Go ahead Old Man."

"Benjamin. I was wondering if you could come out here and settle a little _debate _the chief and I are having?."

He could hear the smile in her voice.

"I'm on my way"

………………………………………………………………………………

The former Mero Sesra sat in her darkened room, her new/old eyes not needing the light. With her new fingers flying over the computer terminal in her quarters faster than they ever had previously, she began to learn. Visions of planets, stars, star charts, races infinite in number and variety – and all so close. It made her wonder how long had passed, how many millennia had she been imprisoned in that desolation where not even time existed. But now she was free and everything had changed. The corporeal insects that infested this region of space had mastered light, and now travelled between stars in a heart beat. She could be free, and she could conquer. She could grow. But first, she had to know these insects, their strengths, their weakness. In under a minute she had absorbed the entire record of Bajor's history. Next, the Cardassians whose conquests she respected, much in the same way an anthill is respected by an etymologist. Next Humans... Next Vulcan...Next...

"Sesra, what are you doing?"

She turned to Winters, a humanoid that this body had known before she had claimed it as her own.

"Sesra, are you okay. The computer told me you were here yet you didn't answer the chime. I used my security override to unlock the door…Sesra, I was worried but then I saw… Sesra, what's happening?"

Inwardly she cursed. By concentrating her eyes and mind upon her hunt for information, her body's other facilities had been shut down.

"I was just doing a little reading", she replied, "looking for a good holo to take on the shuttle – it's a long journey"

"Sesra, no-one can read that quickly, what's happened to you? We can fix it, fix you. Come to the infirmary, we'll have Dr Bashir look you over.."

Winters pleading had no effect on her. For a second she considered taking him, passing part of herself on to him and allowing it to grow.

"Sesra, please. If you don't come I'll have to call security"

The decision was made.

"So, your not gonna give me a kiss before I go? You've always wanted to…" she asked, inching toward Winters.

"Sesra, I…"

But that was all he managed. Faster than should have been possible her hands had reached his head and twisted. Winters said no more. She could have taken him, taken him and grown anew. But she'd been threatened before. Ultimatums had been presented and her fate had been sealed. Sesra knew it was irrational, but those once contained will strike out against those who wish to re-instate their confinement. She reached for his belt and drew his phaser. Unfortunately, her studies had shown that to discharge the insects' energy weapons would alert them instantaneously. Instead she dragged his body to the sleeping area and pushed it under the bed. She knew what she needed, at least for the moment. After pulling the sheet to cover the underneath of the bed from view, she walked to the doors, eager to meet her family/self. She would not be stopped this time. Her incarceration had fuelled her rage, and these should these insects prove tiresome, well, they die so very easily….

……………………………………………..

"I'm telling you commander, these readings cannot be a sensor error; look at the patterns".

Sisko watched the exchange, knowing both combatants were arguing for the pleasure of doing so rather than out of a desire to better the other.

Jadzia Dax smiled.

"So what you're saying Chief is that both of these readings, which conform to no known energy patterns, either of them, must be genuine because they are organized nonsense rather than random nonsense?" She indicated the Starfleet/Cardassian hybrid display. On its screen a purple line, interspersed with blue pulsed slowly..

Now it was O'Brien's turn to smile.

"If you look in the upper band, there.." he pointed at the display, "the tachyon emissions from the second reading almost look like a temporal flux, but not like anything I've ever seen; almost as if something calmly opened a door in local space-time walked through, and closed the door behind it. The signature here.." he pointed to the latter area of the sensor log display, "..is where he wiped his feet".

"Polite" countered Jadzia with a flash in her eyes. "Miles, say for a moment the second reading is genuine; it has nothing at all in common with the first. Computer, overly readings and compensate for degradation. There Chief, blatantly different" With a swift manipulation the diagram split into two showing both of the readings DS9's sensors had picked up earlier that day. She pointed at the first. "This first of the readings clearly, if they were to be believed and we were to stretch our imaginations, has an entirely different signature from the second. Chief, if you look at the first more clearly, the first almost appears to be...a brainwave pattern." She smiled. "_If _it wasn't only a sensor ghost"

"I see what you mean" agreed O'Brien, "but I still want feel it's worth looking into." O'Brien felt now was the time to get his Captain on side.

He turned to Sisko - "Captain, I'm not saying they have the same cause, not even that they're related, I'm not even saying" he turned to Jadzia, "that they definitely are more than sensor ghosts. I've just got a feeling in my gut is all."

Sisko trusted his chief engineer, especially on gut matters – O'Brien's 'gut' had warned of danger a number of times in the past. Sisko viewed it as an asset.

"What do you propose Chief?" asked Sisko, knowing instinctively that his chief would have formulated at least a provisional idea.

"I'd like to take Rom with me to the lower decks, poke around a bit, see what's down there. I could have a look at the grid while I'm there.."

"And I could take a look around the habitat ring. See what I can find.." said Jadzia. "

"I thought you said it was _organised nonsense_" interjected the Chief, mock hurt showing on his face.

"A girl's gotta find her excitement somewhere. Captain?" she asked.

"Agreed" said Sisko. "But take one of the constable's deputies with you, just in case"

"I'm a big girl Benjamin…"

"Nonetheless, we know what happens when you go looking for excitement, Old Man"

"Aye-Aye Sir".

And with a mock salute and shrug from O'Brien, the pair left, leaving Sisko wondering whether the peace the crew had been enjoying was about to be cut short. O'Brien wasn't the only one with gut instinct.

……………………………………………………………………………….

The stranger viewed the bar area he was now stood in, taking stock of the multi-hued and in some cases multi-limbed patrons of the bar. Definitely a good place to get a drink he thought, looking at the huge mass of the drunken Lurian sat conversing with the Ferengi who was stood behind the bar. If they sold the type of hooch to get a Lurian to start singing 'A Wench I Knew From Sigma Three' then he'd definitely come to the right place. He walked over to the bar, ignoring the simmering smile of what could only be a Dabo girl judging by her scantily clad appearance, pulled up a stool and waited. After a moment the Ferengi barkeep extracted himself from the powerful hands of the Lurian who was attempting to begin a waltz with him and said..

"Every time he drinks that hew-mon poison, Absinthe, this happens. He thinks it impresses the ladies…"

The Stranger managed a half-smile.

"Maybe it does, depending upon where the ladies are from; the mer-women of Isanti would adore the upper octave range."

The Ferengi sharply leaned in closer, a head's breadth away..

"Don't tell him that!" he hissed. "He usually stops around the seventeenth verse; say that, he'll perform all one-hundred-and-thirty!!"

Again, the weak smile. Quark, after what seemed like a lifetime serving drinks had learned to read his customers wants, and this one was simple. To get drunk, remain that way as long as possible, then fall back to his quarters. Must be a deal gone wrong, he thought. And then he saw the stranger's eyes. For a brief irrational moment the Ferengi felt a cold fear. Those eyes. The stranger, who Quark had never seen before now that he thought about it, was an average looking hew-mon wearing a hideous brown suit with pinstripes. Quark imagined he'd probably be attractive to the females of his race, although Quark still failed to see the attraction in any species with such small lobes. But those eyes. Like looking into a flaming sun that you'd just unexpectedly found concealed in your root beer. Disconcerted, and with an unexplained need to put a little distance between himself and the stranger he leaned back against the replicator.

"So, what's your poison?" he asked.

"What have you got?' was his reply.


	4. Chapter 4

Hide and Seek Chapter 4

**Hey Everyone? Thanks for reading. I know it seems like the Doctor isn't in this much yet - I'm building towards it. The next chapter is kinda where everything takes off- Please bear with me, I got this figured out in me skull. Thanks for your patience.Polly**

O'Brien spoke again into his communicator.

"Rom, I've told you before – there are NO mutant weevils running around down here. It's just Quark trying to frighten you, that's all, don't worry".

O'Brien was certainly going to have a word with Quark at the first instance available. It's not that he didn't appreciate a good joke, in fact he'd been known to be the mastermind behind a number of perfectly executed japes whilst serving aboard the Enterprise; but this was different. This was Rom. Despite his engineering brilliance, which had long gone unnoticed by anyone except his brother (whose constant belittling had helped keep him servicing the bar as opposed to pursuing a career on the station), Rom wasn't exactly what you'd call bright. At least not bright enough to see through another of Quarks attempts to undermine him and make him look foolish in front of his colleagues.. He didn't believe Quark was being purposely vindictive, as he knew that it in his own way Quark really did love Rom. He just hadn't fully accepted Rom's abandonment of his post at the bar to assist the stations engineering core. And betrayal, even if imagined, can cloud one's judgement sometimes. Now, working five hundred metres down the dark corridor from Rom on deck 13, Quark's lack of judgement was beginning to try O'Brien's patience – they'd been through this twice already.

"Uh..But Chief..There's a lot of radiation down on these levels … and who knows what mutations may have occurred…They could be watching us right now…from the shadows. Waiting to eat us and..." The pitch of his voice was rising, as well as the panic in his voice coming through the communicator.

"Rom, I told you..." An idea struck the chief engineer. He left the channel to Rom open, and spoke to the station's computer –

"Computer. Scan for lifeforms – deck 13"

"Sensors detect one human – male. One Ferengi male."

"Computer – refine search for vermin. Specifically Weevils"

The computer was silent for a short time. Then the flat monotone female voice responded-

"Vermin infestation within normal parameters."

"You see Rom? Normal."

A few moments later.

"Uh…Chief?" Rom asked. O'Brien sighed. He really liked Rom, but his tricorder had begun sensing an unusual particle trace, one which seemed to duck in and out of phase; tracking it through the darkened labyrinth of DS9's disused decks would be difficult enough without having to constantly re-assure the Ferengi that the bogeyman wasn't about to jump out at him.

"Rom – the 'weevils'.." he began, but was interrupted –

"It's not the 'weevils' chief. Uh...I was just wondering what a police public call box is?"

O'Brien began to massage his temples, feeling the beginnings of a solid headache coming on. At least it beat the 'weevils' conversation, although where it came from he didn't have the first idea.

"I think they were used on Earth, sometime around the twentieth century. An old-style telephone wire was connected to the local constabulary. To call the police. If you needed help. In an emergency"

"So…Uh...it didn't do anything…Uh…special?"

Another sigh. "No Rom, nothing special. You just used it to report a burglary, or a fire or something."

"And they don't use them now?" – This was getting ridiculous.

"No Rom, not for about four hundred years. There isn't even a police force on earth anymore. What would be the need, I mean…" His tricorder beeped. The particles were back. Back, and closer this time. He knew he was on the right track.

"Rom are you picking these readings up? – the particle fluctuations on the 'E' band?"

"Are you sure Chief? Uh…about the police boxes? Uh… not doing anything special?"

Impatience turned to exasperation and the Chief was about to scream some sense down the channel at Rom when it hit him. Rom wasn't the sort to think in the abstract.-.

"Rom – why the sudden interest in police boxes?"

"Because of the one emitting E band radiation that I'm standing next to…Uh…did they do that in the twentieth century chief?"

………………………………………

Odo paused at the doorway of 'Quarks' before proceeding inward. He allowed his gaze to wash over the bar's inhabitants, taking a mental snapshot of each face, each person's attire. Just in case. Moving out of the path of a very inebriated Morn, Odo stepped inside the doorframe and stood scowling, arms folded across his chest. He would admit, but only to himself, that he had a certain flair for the dramatic. A number of the patrons shifted uneasily in their seats, heads suddenly ducked, unwilling to meet the shape-shifter's expression. In the far corner a number of shady looking Orions began stood and began leave, affecting a nonchalant air – which would've probably succeeded had they not left full glasses on their table. Odo allowed himself a small snort and a very brief smile, but ignored them as they walked past. As soon as they were out of earshot-

"Odo to Keeley"

"Keeley here, sir"

"A group of Orions have just left Quarks in a hurry. Keep an eye on their movements and prepare to apprehend only when they approach the docking ring" That would mean they would be caught with whatever it was that they were trading in. If they were innocent? Well, then his deputies would apologize and send them on their way.

"Understood, sir. I'll Keep you informed"

"Out"

Inwardly, Odo smirked. As he walked toward the bar he mused upon the Orions' exodus moments before. Only those who have a reason to fear the long arm of the law become uncomfortable in it's presence. To remain calm and collected in the face of authority would disguise one's hidden agendas or illicit activities. To flee leaving full drinks was obvious, not to mention unprofessional.

Odo positioned himself at the end of the bar. Shortly after Quark approached him. He prepared himself for the inevitable banter.

"Odo, can I get you anything?" asked the Ferengi. He knew Odo didn't drink. Odo reminded him.

"That's uncharacteristically generous of you Quark. Especially as you know I don't drink"

"Well at least can you make it look like you're having a drink. Your scowling is ruining the ambience in here"

The bar was relatively quite at this time.

"Ambience Quark? There's only a handful of people in here…"

"Nonetheless – it's hard enough as it is with that guy…" He gestured to the man in the suit, "draining the happiness from the bar. Your scowling will convince people that they're at a wake".

Odo glanced at the figure at the bar. Funny, he'd never seen him before. Come to mention it, he hadn't even seen him disembark; he made a note to watch the security monitors during each docking – it served to spot wanted men and shady characters. Sometimes in his gut (if he had one) Odo could sense a persons intentions by their demeanour. Nothing telepathic of course, just experience. The man at the bar…there was something 'wrong' although he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Have you seen him before Quark?" He knew the answer. Quark leaned in conspiratorially.

"I haven't and I tell you something else. There's something not right with him."

"How so?" Odo didn't really feel the mocking he'd put into his tone.

"He just sits there…and drinks."

"Sit's and drinks in a bar? Diabolical."

"Odo,please. Since he's come in he's had three Fire-whiskeys – and they haven't touched him."

"So? He can hold his drink – I thought you'd be pleased?"

"Odo – no-one can handle fire-whiskeys, especially not hew-mons!! He doesn't say anything, hardly moves – just … stares."

" You want me to arrest him for being quiet?" Again Odo snorts, knowing it rankles his long-time nemesis.

"Look at him Odo. Really. Look. At. Him."

Odo turned his gaze upon the newcomer. The stranger, as if somehow aware he's the object of scrutiny turns toward them, finishes his drink, then pointedly looks at Quark. He then turns his head, and stares again.

"You see Odo? He knows!"

Again, Odo's instincts tell him something is amiss. He should go over, if only to satisfy his curiosity. He begins to walk over when-

"Dax to Odo?"

"Odo here Commander."

"Odo, you'd best get up here right away. Habitat ring, level 3 – We've found a body – one of your deputies."

Odo glances over at the stranger – whose eyes stare right into his. The stranger then turns and once again remains motionless. Odo summons Quark to his side.

"I told you, Odo. I.." Odo cuts across him.

"Quark. We don't know anything. I'm needed on the habitat ring. Keep an eye on him. Talk to him. Find out who he is."

"He could be dangerous Odo..He."

"As dangerous as the Orions I saw in here earlier?"

Quark catches the implication in his tones.

"I resent that Odo. That I'd do business with…Orions.?? … unthinkable. I'll talk to him Odo, but if I get killed, you and I are gonna have words".

He turns and heads toward the man at the bar. Despite Odo being Odo, it was a comfort when he was present. Now Quark felt the fear.

"Another?" He asks.

The stranger nods, and pushes his empty glass toward Quark. As Quark pours the silver liquid into a fresh glasses he realises where his gut feeling comes from. He hasn't asked him to pay. And the part that really scares Quark is that he honestly doesn't want to.


	5. Chapter 5

Hide and seek – Chapter 5

The Doctor reached for his glass, tilted it back and took a slow swig. It burned it's way down his throat. His metabolism resisted most forms of synthetic alcohol, hence the ridiculously strong brew he was now half-heartedly consuming. He hadn't drunk fire-whiskey since what...his fourth regeneration? At least some things never changed, he thought to himself as he felt his hearts accelerate a little, a wave of warmth spreading throughout his chest. Go anywhere in the universe, at any time, and fire-whiskey was still the most potent drink ever created.'Except, that is, for 'Super Tenants' on Earth – Rose had introduced him to it on one of their infrequent 'domestic' trips to see Jackie.

"Lets see how impressive the great Time-Lord is after a few tins of Super T" she had said.

And then they'd found out. He didn't know what was worse – the fact he'd taken Rose and Jackie to see Meatloaf in 1993, or the fact that he'd danced with both of them to 'Anything for Love" - Up close. Apparently. To compound matters, when he'd tried to take them home after the concert he'd input the wrong co-ordinates before passing out. They HAD landed on the Powell Estate as planned, but during the second ice age. At least when he'd woken up they'd allowed him to go outside and stick his head in the snow.

He chuckled. Suddenly it dawned on him that both the Ferengi bartender, as well as what could only be a police officer of some sort were staring at him. He didn't want the hassle of explaining who he was, how he came to be on the space station (where or whenever it was), and that all he really wanted was to have a drink in his own company. He thought about leaving, and figured that to do so would be both obvious and unprofessional. He glanced at the barkeep, who after a few brief words with the other man (changeling? He wondered) wandered over to him and asked "Another"? He Nods and the bartender turns to pour.

………………………………………………………………………………...

The once Mero Sesra had spent the previous few hours walking the station, this 'Deep Space Nine'. She/they had yet to undertake further 'joining'. She wanted the lay of the land before proceeding. Past experience had more than illustrated the necessity of patience. Too much too soon could only but compromise her/their future. The time for action was near, but not to be rushed. The biological memories of her host body had told her that things were winding down on the station around this time of the day, and that soon the various citizens would congregate en masse within the public area – Quark's – within the hour in fact. She could afford some time to remain in the shadows. Then to strike. How she looked forward to sharing her majesty with the life forms in this galaxy. To allow them to become part of her, and herself part of them – all of them. The imagined victory was intoxicating.

………………………………………………………………………………………...

Quark finished pouring the fire-whiskey. Actually, the fire-whiskies. One for himself and one for the man with the dark eyes sat with his elbows upon the bar. Quark hated the stuff, but felt that a commonality in liquor would be a good starting point for a conversation. Now all he had to worry about was keeping the stuff down if he inadvertently swallowed from the glass he'd be nursing. He put both down on the bar and addressed the stranger –

"That's what I like to see – a customer with spirit. A customer with taste."

The Doctor regarded the Ferengi. He didn't really feel like being drawn into a conversation, especially given his current mood, but at the same time the memories he'd been wallowing in earlier had stirred something in him. He'd remembered Rose, her laughing at him, with him, and it made him wonder what she'd think of him now, sitting in a bar drinking to forget. She'd always been proud of him – would she now if she could see how far he'd fallen?

"Well…" he replied with a slight grin, "you been around long enough, you get a taste for the good stuff, and this.." He took a big gulp, shuddered and swallowed..."this is the good stuff – although I'm fairly certain I'm never going to drink it again".

The Doctor shook his head from side to side poking his tongue in and out, his expression stating without the need for words that he'd finished with THAT particular beverage for, well, ever.

"I know! Something with fruit!! Bananas!! I like Bananas" exclaimed the Doctor, slowly starting to feel like himself again; or at least pretending to almost feel like himself again.

The stranger's mercurial change in demeanour startled Quark, making him all the warier. To go from the solemn, blank expression earlier to the glowing smile exhibited now was odd to say the least.

"A Banana daiquiri!" exclaimed the Doctor. "That's what I want. I invented those by the way. Louis the sixteenth's court – I had an issue with some clockwork… and I imagine I sound slightly strange right now?"

"Strange? Let me tell you. Nothing here is strange. Imagine. Klingon warriors who drink prune juice. A perfectly stable wormhole. And to top it off, a beautiful Dabo girl who wants to marry my idiot brother – Deep Space Nine's got it a…" He was cut off-

"Oh!! Wait! No? Yes!! Deep Space Nine!! I'm on Deep Space Nine!! Aw, I always wanted to visit DS9 – and bless her, the old girl knew!!"

A faraway look entered the stranger's eyes, and Quark took a moment to wonder whether or not he should call Odo right away. He was about to retrieve the daiquiri for the stranger, with strange being the operative word when once again his companion interrupted his chain of thought –

"When are we? Shhh, sh…, sh… – twenty fifth, fourth – twenty fourth century! The United Federation of Planets? Fantastic! I'm the Doctor by the way!!

The Stranger's grin grew wider and wider "

"Tell me, is there a gift shop?"

………………………………………………………………………………………

"…And this how you found him?" asked Odo, his voice remaining calm despite the fury that flooded through him.

Winters had been a good deputy. Solid, reliable. Odo had even liked the man on a personal level, although he had shown Winters no indication of this – as it should be, he thought. To maintain discipline, especially during these turbulent times. Any officer of the law would be outraged that a murder should occur on his or her watch, but one so horribly rendered. He'd taken one look at Winters body before it had been taken away. He'd memorized every facet, right down to the last look in Winters eyes. They reminded Odo of the coloured glass lights used by the O'Briens around the traditional time of Christmas, but without the power turned on. His last expression almost questioning – why? Odo would see this face, and this face alone until his killer was apprehended. Then he could grieve. Alone.

Jadzia Dax had tears in her eyes – tears and not unlike Odo, fury.

"We came in here…", Sesra's quarters, "because the particle trail I was following was strong in the corridor. I entered my command override to find that someone had done the same before me. Winters. I asked the computer where he was, and it said he was in here…"

Jadzia looked around.

"I entered with Jackson, and we attempted to call Winters over the conn. His badge led us to…who did this Odo? And Why?"

"I intend to find out Commander – These are Mero Sesra's quarters.."

"She and Winters were close – He arrived when Starfleet came four years ago. He must've snuck in to arrange a surprise, or maybe just to say goodbye?"

"Were they 'involved'?" enquired Odo. Eliminate the obvious.

"Not that I know of. A couple people felt they should be, but I guess they never got round to it…"Her voice broke slightly, "I guess now they never will"

"Did you find those particles you were searching for in here?"

"As a matter of fact I did – a massive concentration, but it's residual. Fading"

A thought struck Odo. "Computer, where is Mero Sesra?"

"Mero Sesra is on the promenade – second level"

"If she was involved in this, she'd hardly be standing around the promenade" suggested Jadzia. "I think there's a connection between these particles and whatever's…"

"O'Brien to Dax"

"Miles, there's been a murder on the habitat ring. Matt Winters"

"Murdered?" The shock was unmistakable in the engineer's voice.

"His neck was broken. Miles…" He cut her off-

"Commander, I've discovered the source of one of the readings from earlier. It looks like an old Earth police box, but it's emitting particles I've never seen before, and to be honest with you, some I can't make head nor tail of, nor can I get inside"

"There's a major particle residue here too. Miles, send your readings to my Tricorder"

Dax watched as O'Briens scan data was fed to her tricorder.

"Computer extrapolate data from my tricorder. Feed to main sensors, now scan for only that signature excluding all others – all decks"

"Signature confirmed on decks 13 through 5" replied the computer.

"Computer – Scan for highest concentration."

"Working – scan complete – largest concentration on deck 5"

Odo had a sinking feeling.

"Computer – specify location" He already knew.

"Maximum particle concentration located in public area 17 – registered in the name of Quark"

The stranger. His mind was made up." Odo to security – converge outside Quark's. Murder suspect inside. Do not enter without me. Suspect appears human. Wearing brown suit - brown hair."

Now he'd get answers for Winters' very last question – why?

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Sesra's time was coming. She approached the entrance Quarks, only minutes away from victory, from expansion. All she had to do was wait until enough of this station's inhabitants were inside then she could touch them and grow. Then take to the stars in their primitive shells and seek new planets to embrace, new galaxies to hold. Moments away. Her reverie was broken by the sight of a large number of insects, armed with energy weapons converging on her position. She began to concentrate, ready to transfer herself from being to being, leaving just enough behind to grow, to –

"Sesra, move aside. Matt's been killed, and the constable believes that the bastard who did it is in there!"

They didn't know. She rifled through her hosts memories, discovered the appropriate response.

As Odo rounded the corner, he saw Mero Sesra's legs buckle from under her. She leaned against the wall, her mouth wide, her eyes brimming. The loss in those eyes fuelled Odo's purpose. He had contacted Captain Sisko on the way down, and was awaiting his presence before taking the suspect into custody. Odo looked at the faces of his team, the friends of Winters.

"Alright. All weapons on maximum stun only – We're taking him alive"

The disappointment was evident on some of their faces. And for once, Odo didn't blame them.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

This was better than she expected. Despite the outward façade she was beaming inside. Someone else would be blamed for her earlier loss of control. In the long run it mattered not, for they would all soon know her love; what mattered was that these beings would converge to discuss the spectacle that was about to occur in this 'bar'. Even more would come, making her task all the simpler, and all the better….

………………………………………………………………………………………

The Doctor was on his third Daiquiri by know, and though not as inebriated as his mannerisms would suggest, he was really enjoying himself. At least as far as he was able, the darkness behind every thought, hiding in between the seconds.

He leaned in to Quark-

"…So I ended up with a broken nose, and Nagus Frik won the 'Underhanded Stroke of Profit-Making Genius' award for his contribution!!! He goaded them into hitting me, knowing that if they did, the personal honour of their clan would be tainted!! They all but gave him the latinum to wash away the stain, and I received a handkerchief – Hang on, it may still be in my pocket!!!

Quark laughed along with him, feigning hilarity (as well as belief). The story he had just been told about the legendary Nagus Frik was true enough, but had happened three-hundred years previously. The hew-mon was clearly insane, but harmless enough. Quark began to laugh again, but a commotion near the entrance caught his attention. Forced joviality shifted to fear as Captain Sisko, flanked by Odo and ten deputies made their way across the bar – directly toward the stranger.

As the Doctor reached for a drink a brisk, clipped baritone resounded throughout the bar, which had gone very quiet all of a sudden.

"Turn around. You are surrounded by ten deputies. You have no means of escape. Raise your hands AND TURN AROUND!"

The Doctor turned around to see what the fuss was about. Apparently it was about him he realised as he looked up into at least twelve angry faces.

"You will surrender, and come with us for questioning…"The possible changeling interceded, "Questions about a murder"

"I'm sorry. What?" asked the Doctor with what he hoped was his most winning smile. "This is a Starfleet station – aren't you meant to contact new life, go boldly further than...hang on? Who's captain of the Enterprise right now…?"

"That's hardly relevant. Raise your arms and surrender. Now"

Well if that's how they wanted to play it. He began to reach into his inside jacket pocket for his psychic paper..

"I hope you are aware of the penalty for pointing a raygun at a superior off…"

His hand had just touched the tips of the paper when he felt an impact against his chest, and then his consciousness left him as he fell off of his stool….the paper falling to the floor.

"I'm sorry sir, I thought he was reaching for a weapon"

"Understood ensign" replied Sisko"Have him taken to the brig. I want to be informed the minute he's awake. Whoever he is"

He reached down for the little leather wallet lying beside the prone figure. Blank, he thought to himself…………………………………………………………………….

"


	6. Chapter 6

Hide and Seek – Chapter 6

_Captain's Log: Stardate 49017.8 _

_The period of recuperation I had hoped for after recent events has been shattered by the death of Lt Matthew Winters. Post-mortem examination of Lt Winter's body, performed by Doctor Bashir, indicates that his death was caused by severe trauma to his spinal column – a broken neck. Dr Bashir has stated categorically that this can neither be explained by way of accident, nor could it be self inflicted. Lt Winters was a fine young officer and his loss will be felt most deeply within his department, as well as by those who knew him. _

_Captains Log: Supplemental_

_The search of the clothing of the suspect apprehended by station security at Quark's has provided no answers in the mystery of Lt Winters' death; it has in fact raised more questions. Therefore, I have instructed the constable to bring the suspect to my office when he wakes, under guard, so I may interview him personally. Dax has finished cataloguing the prisoner's belongings and it is my hope that they will shed a little light on his identity._

"You found all of this in his pockets!??" asked Sisko, incredulity creeping into his voice.

"That's right Benjamin – all of it."

"You mean to tell me that this…" Sisko reached for an umbrella, "and that…" He gestured toward the 'Batman' skateboard with the umbrella, "and those…" A pair of Wellington boots, "all came from his pockets!!?"

"These are a few of the items we found – I specifically left these for you to see. Benjamin, we catalogued over fifty items, ranging from seemingly innocuous items such as these…" a bag of jelly babies, "to this-". Sisko picked up a silver gauntlet with wires trailing from the wrist.

"Analysis shows similarities between this and the cybernetic implants removed from Jean Luc Picard after the battle of Wolf 359"

"So it's Borg?" asked Sisko, feeling the cold fury rise within him. Memories of Jennifer ("We can't just leave her there!!! Get off me!!), the smells of the Saratoga…

"Not necessarily. Both this and the Borg implants use a nano-biological tether to their organic host, but this is considerably less evolved technology. I'd say a prototype, or retro engineering. If you look closely you can see the manufacturer's logo…"

Sisko peered closely at the glove, the name 'Lumic industries' had been imprinted upon it.

Dax continued-

"The only Lumic industries the computer found was based on Earth, pre third world war. Lumic industries supplied medical prosthetics to what was Great Britain. But this is way beyond what humans had developed by that time'.

"I'm sorry Dax-I don't see the connection between this mechanical hand and an umbrella."

"Watch this Captain". Jadzia turned to the adjacent desk where a long brown coat, presumably the suspect's, lay in a heap. Jadzia retrieved the coat, and held it aloft.

"Now Captain – Put the umbrella into the lower outside pocket, as deep as you can go"

Sisko knew to do as asked. His science officer would not ask him to try something unless she was sure of the results. Sisko held the umbrella by it's handle and slowly inserted it into the coat. Sisko watched as the entire thing seemed to fit into a pocket no more than six inches deep.

"Keep going Benjamin"

Sisko was up to his wrist by now, then his elbow.

"How is this possible Old Man?". Sisko remembered his earlier musing on what the universe could throw at you.

"I'm not certain. We tried an old fashioned plum line – a weight attached to a length of yarn borrowed from Garak. We stopped at seventeen feet – vertical"

Sisko closed his eyes briefly. There had to be a connection.

"The way I see it is this. We have an unknown prisoner whose clothing demonstrates a technology we've never seen and does not appear on the scanners – correct?"

Jadzia nodded in the affirmative.

"We also have this gauntlet, containing more unknown technology – correct?"

Again, the nod.

"And then there's the murder. With the particle trail in the quarters where Winters was found?"

Here was the flaw Jadzia had anticipated.

"Benjamin, the prisoner is awash with unknown radiation, but NOT of the kind we found on the habitat deck – not even the same spectrum"

"Accepted. But something tells me that the answers we seek are currently sleeping in the brig. Sisko to Odo"

The gruff voice of the stations security chief answered immediately-

"Odo here Captain"

"What is the status of the prisoner?"

"He's just beginning to stir Captain."

"Good. Wake him up and bring him to my office – I want answers, and I want them now."

"Understood. Odo out"

Sisko turned to Dax –

"Dax. Begin a scan of the station, searching for the radiation found in Sesra's quarters. Search only for the patterns you found in the habitat ring."

"That'll take time sir. I'll need to reprogram the sensors from scratch to search for residual decay – the particles will have changed frequency as they dissipated .Sir, what about Sesra? Maybe she would know what happened?"

"I saw her outside Quarks when she...found out. I'll give her a little time before we grill her. No-one can think straight so quickly after a bereavement……."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Uh… it does appear to be made of wood sir"

O'Brien's inward sigh was tangible.

"I know what it _appears _to be made of Rom. I'm asking what it is made of".

"My…tricorder says it's carbon, lead based paint, and steel for the little keyhole…"

"A keyhole that our most sophisticated lock picks can't open, not to mention our phasers".

A little while earlier they'd attempted to melt through the Yale lock on the TARDIS. Unsuccessfully.

"Maybe there's… a magic word or something?" Rom suggested.

"There is…" the Chief replied, "Patience".

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sesra watched as the bar began to fill up. More and more of them came, each to hear the latest on the murder of Lt Winters. Soon they'd know. Sesra had sat and watched them, marvelling. Her heralds. Each from a different world, each with multiple destinations in mind across the whole galaxy. Victory tasted sweet, yet there was an odd taste at the back of her mind. They couldn't be here. They'd burned. All of them. Their death pyre had melted the walls, only for an instance, but it had been enough. She/they'd seen the hated one's own sun consume them, as well as their enemies. It was an odd thing, she'd thought during the endless drift, that although they had fought to mutual extinction, the screams of the two implacable enemies were identical. She'd felt something on the corner of her awareness when the human had been arrested for her crime. Something old, vaguely familiar - terrifying. She/it felt it was time to look for her self; better safe than sorry. She spotted one of her/Sesra's acquaintances over by the Dabo tables. Her features were still in the shape of despair, her tears being triggered by will. She gestured to Morris, who sat next to her.

"Sesra. You ok?"

"I just…I…" She reached over and touched Morris on the arm. Morris's eyes went blank for a second then he stood and nodded once. Inwardly she rejoiced, for now she was two. She was no longer alone. With both of her new sets of eyes, she glanced around, seeing two perfectly superimposed images in her mind's eye. How beautiful the universe would look, every facet beheld in one instance. Her instance. She watched herself/Morris walk toward the door, heading for the promenade. And then the brig. As she sat in the bar area she felt herself walk past the Bajoran temple then towards the security office. If they were here, If they were in this stations jail, then soon they would no longer be a problem. In fact, she gloated to herself, they would be part of the solution.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Doctor sat up and rubbed his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that his coat was gone. Which meant he more than likely had a lot of explaining to do. The second thing he noticed was that he was in a cell with a force field which meant that someone else also had some explaining to do. The force field itself wouldn't be a problem for his sonic screwdriver…which was in his coat. The third thing he noticed was his headache – that had to be the fire-whiskey/Daiquiri combo he'd been knocking back before…before he'd been stunned and taken here. Something to do with a murder? 'Oh well' he thought, 'I can always fall back on charm'. He stood and walked to the force field.

"Hello…um…Hello? I'm awake, as well as slightly hung-over, and extremely interested in leaving. Soon if possible? Hello?"

He was answered by a gruff voice – that of the security officer who'd confronted him in the bar.

"Leaving? I doubt you'll be going anywhere for a very long time.

The Doctor watched as the changeling, he thought, moved into view and stood leaning against the cell's supporting pillar. The Doctor read his expression at once. Professional restraint holding back unstoppable righteous anger. He knew that his usual mannerisms wouldn't wash with this man; it would alienate him, and eliminate any chance of finding out what was going on. Across time and genetics the Doctor felt a bond with this man – both he and the man before shared the same passion for justice. For ensuring that what is right prevails. Dropping his usual affectations, he said in a modulated, honest tone of voice-

"I assure you I have not murdered anyone." Unless of course, one was counting the entire population of Gallifrey.

"Well then.It appears I have an innocent man in my cells, who isn't on any of the passenger manifests for any vessel to dock at DS9…"

"Ah. That. There is an expl…"

"Furthermore, this innocent man appears on none of the visual logs for any of the disembarkation points on the docking ring…for the last twelve months…"

"If you'd just let me…"

"Frankly, I have no wish to listen to your 'explanations'. My orders are to take you to the Captain's office. He will decide what to do with you from there…" Odo stared directly into the Doctor's eyes-

"And I assure YOU that I will see justice for Lt Winters"

Odo dropped the force field.

"You will follow me to the Captain's office – without attempting to escape. I'd rather you were in my custody than on the loose. My deputies can be over-zealous at times; especially when one of their own was lost. I'm sure you understand?"

The Doctor looked at this solemn man, heard the unspoken threat. It hadn't been necessary. He carried enough guilt around inside himself that could never be washed away – He was not about to carry the guilt for another's actions. Furthermore, HE would see this murderer brought to justice.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What once was Mera Sesra sat in the centre of Quarks. Many gave her a wide berth to deal with her loss. Other's passed by with a quick hello, only to pity her more as she seemed unable to even speak, the loss was so great. In her mind's eye she approached the security station, nearer, nearer then………Rage. He was here! Walking toward the turbolift with the security chief. The impossible had occurred! Morris reached for his/their phaser recently retrieved from the weapons lockers, installed as a precaution in case of Dominion invasion and was about to point when-

'Morris. Shouldn't you be on duty on the docking ring?"

He/They saw another of the security detachment, higher in rank apparently. Sesra had two choices. To cause a disturbance here, the time lord would see it. No. In less than one hour the bar will be full and the promenade also – the celebrations at the temple would ensure a large number of the Bajor's higher citizens would be present. Easier to spread to the planet. Not long, soon, soon…

"I'm sorry Sir – Winters death has hit me hard. I … I wanted to check with Sesra…they were…"

"Understood ensign – it hit us all badly. Go about your business"

"Thank you sir."

The officer left, heading toward the Klingon coffee shop. Sesra/Morris turned and walked back to Quarks. They didn't have one hour, it needed to be done now.


	7. Chapter 7

Hide and Seek – Chapter 7

_**Hi Folks – Thanks for both the nice reviews and for sticking with this story. All reviews, either good or bad, are welcome, as well as very helpful. Polly**_

The turbolift came to a halt and the Doctor and Odo stepped out into the operations centre. The Doctor glanced around as he walked to the steps leading up to the station commander's office. Over by the viewscreen, currently inactive, was a Bolian; in the far corner a Tellarite working on what must be the EPS relay; and stood near a raised console, possibly a science station judging by the display, stood a Trill – one of the prettiest the Doctor had ever seen. He marvelled at how far humanity had come, even this early on. The prejudices inherent in their species had been overcome, and here they stood on the final frontier, hand in hand with the unknown. He felt a smile begin to form on his cheeks. As he began to ascend his eyes met the Trill's and he let the smile take hold of his features. The look he received in reply was almost glacial. 'Not many friends here' he thought.' Which is to be expected really given that I'm currently a murder suspect' He averted his gaze and followed his escort into the Captain's office. Inside the office was an ebony skinned man – Captain Benjamin Sisko if memory served – who sat behind his obsidian desk radiating an intensity that even the doctor was awed by – and a Bajoran woman with features that would be pleasing were it not for the hostility dripping from her.

"Captain. The prisoner, as ordered" The Shapeshifter nodded, turned, and began to leave.

"I'd like you to stay constable. This matter may concern the murder of a Starfleet officer, but as chief of security of this station it concerns you also".

"Thank you Captain". Odo moved off to one side, slightly behind the Doctor, just within peripheral vision. 'To intimidate me' he thought. Well, it wasn't working, but it would be impolite to not react to it after all the effort he was putting in. He tensed his shoulders in a manner he imagined would look like he was, in fact, intimidated.

"I'm Captain Benjamin Sisko – Please, have a seat". He gestured toward the chair opposite from his own. The Doctor sat. "As you have been made aware, you are currently being held in custody as the primary suspect in the murder of Matthew Winters – one of my officers". Sisko let that sink in before continuing-

"At this juncture we will be simply gathering evidence. You may assist us by answering my questions. Co-operation will help your defence at such time as you are turned over to the criminal system."

"I wouldn't bother Captain", Interjected Odo, "So far he has refused to provide either his real name or his planet of origin."

"Is this true?" Sisko asked the Doctor.

"Well, yes and no. More yes than no I suppose."

"Are you playing games with me!?" Sisko almost snarled.

"No I'm not playing games with you. Look, I'm the Doctor – that's my name" A pointed look at Odo. "As for my planet of origin, it hardly matters as you wouldn't be able to find it anyway. And for the record, or would that be the log? For the log, yes…For the log I did not kill anyone – I never met this Matthew Winters. I simply came to have a drink where no-one knows me, get drunk and then to leave. That was before you shot me with a raygun, put me in a cell and stole my coat – which I want back incidentally, it really sets off the shoes.."

"So – that's your defence, your explanation? You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?" asked Odo as Sisko looked on.

"That seems to happen to me frequently – More than most I'd imagine, but at least life's exciting. Nothing worse than boredom I always say. Now, seeing as you have no evidence against me, because there is none as I didn't kill anyone, I'd like my coat so I can be on way. That's me, out of the door and out of your lives".

"It's not going to quite that simple. For the first thing, you've yet to explain how you came to be on the station. I'm sure an innocent man would not object to answering that?"

"Um…actually an innocent man, well…" He ran his fingers through his hair, "this innocent man would. It's kind of…complicated. Wait!! I've got it! The Prime Directive! Yes! – I can't tell you because of the Prime Directive!! That's it…"

The doctor didn't imagine for one second that that particular line would work but he had to try. Even less expected was the response from the Bajoran-

"Wouldn't have anything to do with the big blue box we found on the lower decks? The very big blue box I'm about to have ejected from the airlock and used as a target drone for the station's quantum torpedo launchers?"

The Doctors hearts almost missed two beats. They'd found the TARDIS. The Doctor leaned towards Sisko, palms gripping the desk; this moment to convince was all he had before…

"Captain – please listen to me. I understand that your intentions are noble, and I understand your need to resolve the murder of your officer, but this isn't the way. My ship…it's all I have left!! Captain, please. Let me take my ship and…"

"Your ship? You mean to tell me that the wooden box we found on our lower decks, in a restricted section I might add, is your ship? Sisko to Dax – will you come in here??"

The silence in the room was tangible, and the atmosphere thick enough to cut with a phaser beam. The Doctor felt three sets of eyes boring into him. The doors to the office opened and in walked the pretty Trill the Doctor had spotted earlier.

"Yes Captain?" she enquired.

"Commander. The 'Doctor' here has stated that the box Chief O'Brien found is in fact his ship. Tell me Commander, is there any evidence whatsoever that it is a ship?"

Jadzia looked thoughtful for a second before answering-

"It is emitting E-band radiation, which could theoretically indicate a temporal sequencer, or some other method of particle inversion…but we're talking advanced theoretical physics here – nothing we have comes even close…and that's not to mention the other traces it's emitting which we have yet to identify. He could be telling the truth…but it's unlikely. If it is a ship, it's probably not his, at least originally"

"Fantastic..."Exclaimed the Doctor, "Only been here a few hours and I'm already a murderer and a pirate – what next? Oh I know, I'm the big head with delusions of divinity that chased Jim Kirk around the centre of the galaxy! And while we're at it, a Preserver from the mirror universe, The Face of Boe, and the Borg queen in retro-drag!". That tirade had tired even the Doctor, but it had had an unexpected effect-

"Exactly how do you have information that is classified to Starfleet personnel only?" asked Sisko. "Information that has never entered the public forum?"

"It's like a lot of things about me. They don't make sense, rarely are believable, but are nonetheless true. Isn't THAT why you're out here? I asked you in the bar before I was shot, and I was unarmed I may add – 'Isn't this a Starfleet station? Aren't you meant to seek out new life'-I remember saying that. And what do you do? Draw weapons and shoot the first new face you see because of suspicion and paranoia. I thought you were better than that, but it appears the truth is just covered over with a bright shiny exterior – new paint, new face, yet still the same inside."

Sisko stared at the man in front of him, puzzled. Not once had he attempted subterfuge, not once had he tried to explain his way out of his situation with half-truths – on the contrary, he had almost been honest. But was that enough? Sisko suspected that when the man, this 'Doctor' had claimed no involvement in Winters'

murder he was telling the truth – somehow Sisko didn't believe that this man was capable of first breaking a young lieutenant's neck and then casually enjoying cocktails at Quarks…Quark…

"Alright. For the moment let's say that there is no evidence pointing toward you for the murder of Lt Winters, that you came here aboard a wooden box for a drink at Quark's. Let's leave all of these matters aside whilst you explain…"

Sisko stood, walked over to the adjacent table and picked up something the Doctor couldn't quite make out – his glasses were in his coat, "This". A heavy object landed in front of the Doctor -a Cyberman's hand.

"Where did you get this?" asked the Doctor.

"In your coat", came the reply, "How much was Quark going to pay you for it?"

………………………………………………………………………………………

The moment had come. The restoration of the Orb of Prophecy to the temple had been completed, and the faithful of Bajor danced out of the temple onto the promenade, singing and dancing, holding hands together, or skipping alone for a short while before being whisked off to dance. The musically inclined amongst the stations inhabitants had brought their instruments to Quark's and set up as a band – Quark charging them for the space to play whilst simultaneously profiting from their mastery of Bajoran celebration songs. He'd even had the music piped out of speakers by the entrance .Julian Bashir stood by the bar with Quark, sipping a beer in a pint mug.

"Busy tonight Quark – you must be pleased?"

Quark looked less than pleased. "All of this extra custom wasted by a stupid rule that Bajorans remain sober during celebrations – It's like when Worf came. Big strapping Klingon like that, figured I'd sell a barrel of bloodwine by the day. And what does he drink…prune juice"

"Never mind Quark at least your soul will be saved". With that, Bashir went to mingle leaving Quark alone to brood.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Pure joy flooded through Sesra – the time was now!! She and Morris/herself pushed their way to the centre of the gyrating, vibrant mass of beings. When they reached the very middle they joined hands and began the circuit. Their bodies began to glow as the power built between her/them – Each second she felt renewed, alive! As the energy flowed red flashes began shooting from her/their body/bodies. A massive cheer erupted from the throng, believing Quark had fronted for the entertainments. Time slowed for Sesra as she/they glanced around themselves, single for the last time. She would be free, she would spread, she would be all, and never, ever, be cold again. She struck out with her arm and grasped a Dabo girl dancing next to her…who in turn grabbed a Starfleet officer with a wide smile…who in turn…

Bashir was just about to throw his third dart, and thus by way of genetic superiority prove to the two Nausicans he was playing against that size truly doesn't matter (especially in the twenty-fourth century) when he noticed something strange occurring near the centre of the bar. Patrons toward the centre were stopping their motions and grabbing those in front of them…who themselves stopped and grabbed…

"HEWMON. THROW DART. PLAY DART"

The Nausicans were getting impatient, but something was amiss, especially as the ranks of those standing silently was progressing in his direction. He turned, but was grabbed by the Nausicans-

"HEWMON. PLAY DART. HEWMON. FINISH DARTS!! NOW"

Bashir, barely looking at the board threw an eight, a sixteen, and a treble twenty to finish the game. He turned to Nausicans to announce the end of their contest when he felt a large hand upon his. He looked into the eyes of the Nausican holding him, and realised just before oblivion took him, that for him the game was truly over.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Now you think I'm an arms dealer?? This is getting ridiculous! To be honest with you…"

"That would make a change" sniped Kira.

"To be honest with you, if you knew what that was you'd understand exactly why I wouldn't be selling it!! If I'd known I still had it, I would've destroyed weeks ago!! I must empty my pocket's and sort them one of these days…"

"You'd say that now, especially as you haven't told us what exactly it is or where you got it from…"

"You've already said I'm a murderer and a thief!! Even if I'd consider breaking all of my own rules, not to mention a good few of yours by telling you, you'd never…"

"What? Buy it? Are you surprised, You haven't.."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!" boomed Sisko. "I have had it with this. Major, you are not helping the situation with your running commentary…and you…" indicating the Doctor, "…had better start explaining. Right. Now."

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn…"

"Captain. That energy source you wanted me to scan for."

"What about it Dax?"

"Benjamin, I'm detecting a massive surge of it, starting at Quarks and spreading".

"E-band?"

No Captain – the other signature. The one from the habitat ring"

Sisko sighed. 'What now?' he thought. "Put on my desk screen"

All eyes in the room moved to the purple pulse being displayed on the Captain's desk.

"Seal this room. Do it. Now!!"

The Starfleet officers turned to the Doctor who was now on his feet, back straight.. Jadzia felt like she was looking a different man. All artifice, all pretence dropped, she felt as if she was seeing what truly lay underneath. And for just a second she was frightened.

"Captain! Seal this room. Seal off the computers, lifts, transporters, ladders all of it!! Captain!!"

Sisko stared at the Doctor – Another facet? The true man? Sisko wasn't sure what, but there was something in the voice. This man had commanded in battle, of that much he was sure. And he wasn't just a facetious weapons dealer either. Nonetheless, Sisko was not prepared to listen to orders or even suggestions without good reason – something the Doctor had failed to provide thus far.

"I'm not sure I remember putting you in command of this station Doctor…"

"Captain if you value life you'll do exactly as I say…"

Odo shot forward, his arms becoming tendrils, wrapping around the Doctor-

"Are you presuming to threaten me in my own office, Doctor?" he asked.

"Not your life Captain. All life. Starting here, and spiralling out to Bajor, Earth, everywhere. Everywhere you have ever heard of or cared about. You must believe me, Captain, it'll destroy this galaxy and move to the next. Then the next. Captain, your next decision determines the future of everyone – You, me, your crew, your family, all of them. If you don't listen to me on this you'll doom them all. Please Captain. You can undo the lockouts if you don't believe what I tell you, but they must be done NOW!!"

"Initiate command lockout – Authorization Sisko Alpha-Alpha six-three-seven"

"Does the second officer concur"? asked the computer emotionlessly.

"The second officer concurs", responded Kira following her Captain's lead, "Authorization Kira Gamma-Epsilon-six-nine-nine"

"Computer lockout initiated. Command functions re-routed to Captain's office only.

Sisko turned to the Doctor. "Now Doctor, an explanation?"

"Ask your security chief to release me, and I need my screwdriver – please Captain, this needs to be contained before it can spread. I can contain it, but to do so I need you to trust me?"

A part of Sisko wanted nothing more than to disengage the lockout and return this man to the brig. But something in the man's eyes forced Sisko to say, "As you were constable" The something he'd seen was fear.

"Benjamin, the signature spreading throughout the upper decks, docking ring four, and the habitat levels…"

The Doctor rushed over to the desk of artefacts Sisko had brought to his office for the interview and grasped a small cylindrical device, like an oversized padd stylus with a blue light on the end.

"What's happening – What is that?" asked Jadzia as the Doctor twisted and turned the end until-

"Got it!! Right then…"

He turned to the Starfleet officers, looked them each in the eye and raised his thumb to the button.

"I'm so sorry" he said as he depressed the button,


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hide and Seek Chapter 8**_

_**The reviews keep coming!! Thank you all for making a first time writer feel welcome!! Glad you're all enjoying this….Polly p.s -I update frequently as my job gives me time to mess about !!**_

"What do you mean, gone"? asked Deep Space Nine's newly minted strategic operations officer.

"I mean it's gone sir - it just isn't there. No homing beacon, no ships, nothing, sir"

Ensign Jones frantically racked her brain trying to find an explanation for the apparent disappearance of the station. She secretly believed that Commander Worf already hated her for what even she would deem as a lousy performance during the previous days training exercises in sector three. Commander Worf had taken the Defiant and her command crew out into deep space, passing through Bajor's Oort cloud and into the asteroid field beyond it for 'silent running' simulations and target practice. She'd missed two of the targets by failing to compensate for the Defiant's vector being nudged by the larger asteroids' gravity. Worf hadn't said anything; He'd just glowered at her, and then moved on. Shaking that particular memory from her mind, she manipulated the sensors into a full spectrum search.

"Commander. The sensors are picking up a massive residual trace at the stations co-ordinates. Energy readings inconclusive at this time. Sir! I've accessed Bajor's orbital sensor array. Ready to replay sensor logs."

"On screen ensign", replied Worf.

The screen flickered into life, displaying the starscape in which Deep Space Nine usually hung drifting.

"Reverse the stream ensign, increase speed by a factor of six…"

The stars twinkled rapidly on the viewer, then a massive white plume of energy flared, to be replaced with the crab-like protuberances of DS9's docking arms.

Worf stared at the screen intently.

"Ensign Jones. Bring back to time index twenty-two-twenty-seven. Play back at one tenth speed."

Jones obliged, and the screen skipped to a point just before the disappearance of the station, then progressed at a speed reduce by the factor of six requested by the commander. The bridge crew watched as in awe as the station's shields flickered into life, and were filled by the white flare seen during the first playback. It then simply winked out of existence. Worf's first thought was of the hated Q; his sporadic appearances were usually preceded by a similar flash, but this somehow didn't fit. He looked to his right where Lieutenant Sevak, a Vulcan, stood examining his science display.

"Theories Lieutenant?"

"The orbiting sensors did not detect any vessels nearby, nor weapons fire – the visual sensors confirm this. I can only hypothesize that it was an accident of some kind".

Worf didn't like accidents. Give him something tangible to sink his Battleth into over a mystery any day.

"Probable cause?"

"Unknown Commander. Our sensors are picking up no debris from the station, nor organic material which would effectively rule out an explosion. Furthermore the energy signature which we cannot identify does seem to be temporal in origin. I am hesitant to postulate as to what actually occurred commander, but I do believe it is a possibility that the station is still intact – It's location however, remains a mystery."

Inwardly, Worf began a series of Klingon curses; First the Enterprise, now Deep Space Nine. Worf could almost believe that bad luck was following him. But he stopped himself; to believe one's life or fate was influenced or controlled by external forces was to admit one's cowardice. Worf sat straighter in the chair-

"Lieutenant. Begin a multi spectrum analysis of this entire sector. Look for anything that could even begin to explain this 'accident'. No matter how trivial. Divert power from weapons and engines if necessary – I want answers."

"Understood, Commander".

"Ensign. Open a channel to Starfleet command. Inform them of the current situation, and transfer all pertinent data."

"Aye sir."

Worf may not be able to fight a mystery, but he knew no matter what it took he would drag the answers from the heavens himself – He would know what had happened to his new post.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

O'Brien sat up a little to quickly, his back twinging with pain. More than likely from when he'd been blasted against the wall. His head still swam a little and it took him a few seconds to clear the fuzz from his eyes.

"Rom? Rom!? Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Yes Chief…I can hear you…"

Thank God.

"Are you hurt Rom?"

"Uh…no chief. I'm alright. Uh…what was that?"

O'Brien had no explanation. One moment he'd been attempting to use a resonant scan to breach the shielding that surrounded the blue police box, the next he'd been blasted against the corridor wall none too lightly. He galanced over again at the mysterious box; it was emmiting a bluish glow as well as an odd rasping noise. The Captain should be informed immediately.

"O'Brien to Captain Sisko?"

No reply.

"Captain? Major Kira?"

"There's no one answering chief…"

"Thanks Rom. Computer, where is Captain Sisko?"

"Command protocols engaged. Computer access from Captain's office only", came the reply.

"Something's going on Rom", said the engineer, "And I have a feeling it's tied together with what this box is doing".

"Uh…shall we go to the Captain's office…to report to the Captain?".

"If the command protocols are active, then these lower decks, as well as what's left of the ore processor should be sealed off. I think we'd better start scanning this thing, try to make sense of it. I'll try to reach the Captain…".O'Brien moved over to a wall plate and began unscrewing it. "In the meantime, try and find out what makes that thing tick."

"Uh…Chief? What if our scans set this thing off in the first place? We could blow ourselves up – or worse!!"

What was worse than being blown up, O Brien didn't know. What he did know was that the command protocols were only utilized during dire circumstances. He had to speak to the Captain…

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Sesra's scream of rage was voiced by all of her mouths. A gut wrenching, blood curdling scream that voiced her/their anger against the very walls of the station. So close, so close. But she would not be thwarted now. She would see every living thing dead and broken at her feet before she allowed herself to be imprisoned again. With a thought, she moved herself, in the form of a group of individuals toward the entrance…only to be thwarted by an energy screen. The Timelord. She reached out to one of her number on the other side…but they too were thwarted. Again, the Timelord. Forcefields existed at every doorway…and there, the lift to the command centre was not operational. She searched her new family's former memories…no…no…YES!! Jefferies tubes. With yet another of her number she began pulling at the panels in the bar that gave access to the very veins and arteries of the station…only to find another forcefield. And another. Sesra's/their anger abated. These were but toys. Annoying, restraining, prohibitive toys none the less. Toys designed by those whom she inhabited. She would find a way out. Soon.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

"Amazing!! I am a genius!! Genius – With a capital Gene!!"

Jadzia heard the voice before her vision cleared. She was half lying on the floor, and her head hurt. She remembered the Doctor twisting his 'screwdriver, then the look upon his face before he…

"What happened?" she asked, standing up. The others were coming around too.

"My hangover!! It's gone!! I feel right as rain…although I've never understood that…I mean as down as rain, or as up as rain certainly…but right? Unless it originated on Vlarus III, where gravity has a funny habit of…"

"Doctor, what the HELL is going on!!?" Sisko was awake and on his feet. And by all accounts, thought the Doctor, not very happy. "What have you done to my station?? – Dax. Report"

"External sensors are all online, yet detecting…nothing. Not even the usual background radiation of the sector, no comms from Bajor, no identification transmitters from any vessels. Benjamin – there's nothing out there. And for some reason, the shields are up…" Dax glanced at the readout again, "up, but configured like I've never seen before."

"It's called a static temporal anchor. I'm sorry, it was the only way".

The Doctor scratched behind his ear. If he was honest with himself he felt surprised that he was still alive. At least, alive and thinking and mobile.

"The only way for what?" Kira too, was now awake. With a quick glance the Doctor confirmed that the Shapeshifter was okay as well. At least he'd have someone to talk to for …well, ever.

"I needed to contain it before it could leave the station. Docked vessels, transporters, escape pods – If just one had escaped it would have been over. I did what I had to. You may not thank me, but at least we know that for the moment it cannot escape"

"What have you done Doctor?" – Sisko had felt like shouting again, but the tone of voice the Doctor was currently speaking with suggested that he had, in fact, done what was necessary. Sisko recognised the tone – it was one he'd used before.

"Basically, I've created a static field of time across the forty-two possible dimensions of relative space-time, utilizing a multi dimensional resonance field generated by the Hu-on radiation at the heart of the TARDIS which acts as a…" The Doctor noticed that everyone present, with the possible exception of Jadzia Dax, had gotten lost at 'basically'.

"It's like 'Poohsticks'" the Doctor began. "Actually, before I start, any chance of a cup of tea? I think better with tea…"

Kira was inflamed –

"You want tea? Now? Fine, let's get some sandwiches, a little blanket…"

"Let's not start this again, Major. If tea will help, then tea it is. Computer – restore replicator function in my office..." The computer responded, indicating it was done. Sisko walked to over to it and requested a pot of tea, and five cups which apearred with a flash of light. He poured the drinks, passed one to the Doctor, who helped himself to sugar, and then continued-

"Doctor. Against my better judgement I have trusted you this far. But my patience has a limit, and you are approaching that line very quickly."

The Doctor nodded. Leaning back against the console he continued-

"Where was I? Right! Poohsticks!! You know Poohsticks? Winnie the Pooh? And Eoyore, and Piglet and Owl, who I still say is under appreciated given…"

"Doctor. I don't see what children's tales have to do with.."

"It's important for you to understand. Right. Anyway. Pooh and Piglet each grab a stick, which they then take to a bridge over a river…". The Doctor placed his screwdriver on the table, then grasped Sisko's baseball and placed it next to the screwdriver.

"For this, my screwdriver is Pooh's stick, and your ball is Piglet's. Right - both are thrown over the side of the bridge at the same time into the side from which the current flows, and then are allowed to drift. Pooh and Piglet by now have ran to the other side to see whose stick emerges first, being the winner – with me?" They nodded, and the Doctor grinned.

"The composition of the sticks really has no bearing, aside from aerodynamics. The main deciding factor is the forces acting upon it. The river itself, obstructions in the river etc. Rocks for instance." The Doctor reached for a sugar cube and placed it on the desk. He then pushed both the ball and the screwdriver forward, until the ball was stopped by the sugar, and the screwdriver proceed unimpeded. "As the rock impedes the stick it stops, and whilst the river flows, Piglet's stick remains trapped, static, until…anyone?"

"Until the forces within the river cause the stick to rejoin the current," suggested Odo, "erosion of the rock, or a bigger piece of flotsam colliding with it…"

"Give the man a teddy bear!! Now here's where it gets interesting – Imagine Piglet's stick, or the ball is Deep Space Nine, and the river is time. Each second of the ball's existence leaves a quantifiable impression in time. Time flows, yes, but each constituent moment is static – Like when you say tea-time is five o'clock. You move beyond that point after your tea, but the period itself exists within time – the past in fact - at a specific quantum location. With me?"

Everyone nodded, out of politeness for some, the Doctor mused.

"Now what I've done is isolate a fraction of the station's existence as it travels down the river…" he put the ball at the beginning of the course again, "and put a rock in the way – namely, the TARDIS, thus trapping the station, and unfortunately it's occupants, being us, in the same place of the river."

"That's impossible. You can't stop time for the whole universe" stated Kira flatly.

"No, wait…" Dax this time, "I get it. When the ball, or the station stops", she pushed the ball against the sugar," the current still flows for everything else." She grabbed the screwdriver," You haven't stopped time for the universe just for us…but hang on? If time's stopped, how are we having this conversation? We should be stopped too."

"That's the TARDIS. She's maintaining a bubble of free flowing time, pumped straight from the vortex into the area encompassed by the…"

"Shields!!..." cried Dax triumphantly, understanding causing her features to shine." That's why the readings are so off. The shields are keeping this 'free time' from escaping the bubble, and that's why they are polarized inwards."

"And you thought I was a thief…and come to mention it, a murderer. How do things stand on that front by the way"?

"We have larger matters pressing at the moment…however, it does look like you may be in the clear, if that is, we ever return to normal space where the charges can be formally dropped"

"Captain, if I may?" Enquired Odo. Sisko nodded for him to proceed. "If we are free in time, and your ship is all that's keeping us 'stuck up against a rock'as it were, doesn't that mean that the energy signature, or what's causing it, is free too? And beyond that, all it has to do is knock out your ship to return us to normal space?"

"I said I could contain it, not destroy it. But you're right. This is more of a stalling measure, buying me sometime to think…"

"Doctor, what exactly are we dealing with?" The Doctor looked at Sisko-

"The stuff of nightmares Captain. They're called the…

"I WILL SPEAK WITH TIMELORD" – A hundred voices spoke through the stations communications array at once. Again Sisko felt a shiver (WE ARE THE BORG – LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND PREPARE TO BE ASSIMILATED) down his spine. But, not unlike his previous encounter, he straightened his back and prepared to stand his ground, no matter the odds –

"I am Captain Benjam…"

"YOU ARE INSIGNIFICANT. I WILL SPEAK WITH THE TIME LORD"

Once more, the Doctor felt the eyes of those around him, but this time he thought ,as allies-

"THE TIMELORD – NOW. OR I WILL START…"

"You Will Start by Being Quiet!!" the Doctor thundered down the communicator – and a hundred voices fell silent.

"Right then, you wanted me, you got me. What do you want?" A more diplomatic tone, but a tone of steel nonetheless-

"YOU WILL RELEASE ME – YOU WILL RETURN ME TO TIME. YOU WILL LOWER THE WALLS. YOU WILL LOWER THEM NOW"

"Oh alright then, all you had to was ask…" replied the Doctor, "Perhaps a please on the end? A cherry on top?"

"YOU WILL RELEASE ME?" The voices were questioning, hopeful.

The Doctor glanced at Jadzia with a 'DUH?' expression – "No point in displaying a sense of humour, It's wasted on them…"

To the communicator-

"Yeah. Ok…Well, no. No, to be honest. I didn't spend all that time coming up with a genius plan of removing you from the universe only to let you go, did I? What did you expect? A kiss on your way? Me to tie your shoelaces for you?"

"YOU WILL RELEASE ME, OR YOU SHALL PERISH – IN FLAMES"

"I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I am going to return this station to normal time, and I am going to restore all of the people you have infected to normal – and just to top if off, I'm putting you in a place that will exist long after time ends, and you want to know how?"

Silence

"You just watch me!!"

………………………………………………………………………………………


	9. Chapter 9

**_Hi - and once again thanks to all of you who've put my little story on your alerts/favourites.I'm trying to say thanks personally to everyone who reviews, and I will actually succeed at some point. Until then, thanks again!!Pollyx_**

Sisko looked across at the Doctor, who was sitting at the desk with his head in his hands, a blank, haunted look on his face. He had remained that way for the last few minutes, ever since the conclusion of his conversation with whatever it was that had spread through the station. Sisko now knew that the Doctor was a 'Timelord'; a race he'd never heard of throughout his entire career. He also knew that they were in serious trouble, and that they could probably no longer rely on any assistance from the Doctor, who was verging on catatonia. Every so often Sisko had heard the Doctor whisper 'it's my entire fault' over and over again, and then lapse back into staring silence. Sisko replayed the past few moments of the conversation over again in his head –

"You just watch me!" The Doctor had said, and Sisko and the others had sensed, just by watching him, that this promise would be kept.

"YOUR WORDS ARE HOLLOW. YOUR THREATS ARE IMPOTENT", the one voice that spoke with many had replied, "I WILL NOT BE THWARTED".

"I seem to remember you saying something similar the last time you faced us, and look where that got you…"

"US? THERE IS NO 'US TIMELORD, THERE IS ONLY YOU. YOUR PEOPLE ARE BUT ASHES, YOUR WORLD LESS THAN A CINDER. YOU ARE POWERLESS AGAINST ME"

Kira had noticed the Doctor visibly whiten, the colour draining from his features-

"That's impossible; you can't know that, you…"

"I KNOW, TIMELORD, FOR THE FLAMES WHICH SCORCHEDYOUR HATED RACE FROM EXISTENCE SET ME FREE. TIME AND SPACE BURNED, AND THE WALL WAS WEAKENED. WEAKENED ENOUGH FOR ME TO PASS THROUGH. TO ESCAPE THE PRISON YOUR RACE HAD DOOMED ME TO FOR ETERNITY.DISCARDING MY SHACKLES, I WITNESSED THEM ALL BURN, AND WHAT A GLORIOUS SPECTACLE IT WAS TO BEHOLD"

The Doctor had started shaking, and if not for Kira's quick action he would have toppled.

"KNOW THIS, AND KNOW IT WELL. TIME NO LONGER FAVOURS YOU .SOON I SHALL DEFEAT THE TRIVIAL IMPEDIMENTS YOU HAVE PLACED BEFORE ME. THEN I WILL COME FOR YOU – YOU WILL BEG FOR DEATH, BUT INSTEAD RECEIVE MY EMBRACE".

The comms had then cut out. Kira and Odo had half led, half carried the Doctor to the chair at the desk, and there he had remained. Jadzia had then approached him. Laying a comforting hand on his shoulder she had said-

"Doctor can you here me? Doctor?"

"It's all my fault – all of it" he had whispered, not looking at her. A solitary tear drifted down his cheek, and he made no attempt to wipe it.

"Doctor can you hear me? – Doctor, we need your help?"

Nothing.

"Well, this doesn't look good" Jadzia had commented solemnly. "I'm not even sure he can hear us".

Something in Sisko had then woken. Turning to the others-

"Since when did we give up without a fight!!??" he almost shouted. "Since when did we quit because we didn't know what we were facing? Or because it looked bigger than us??"

He pointed at the Doctor –

"He said it himself; he only came to this station for a drink!! If he had gone to Earth or Romulus, or anywhere else, we would still be facing this thing, whatever it is, without him!! Only a week ago, we sent the entire Klingon taskforce packing; did we have help then? No. – WE OVERCAME!! Just like we will this overcome this time!! Now, let's stop behaving like frightened children, and start acting like Starfleet officers! Dax, start scanning the station – look for anything that might help us – discount nothing. Major, Odo – I need you on the internal sensors. Try and find any areas that it has not spread to, and warn the people there to barricade themselves in, wherever they are. I'll be beginning the barricade here. It said it would find away to get past our Forcefields, and I believe it eventually will. Therefore, I'm going to lay a few surprises for it. We all have jobs to do, people – step to it!!

…………………………………………………………………………………………

'It's all my fault' he kept thinking to himself, 'and all for nothing'. Nothing good had come out from it. In Henry Van Statten's underground complex his one reason for continuing to exist had been ripped from him – if only for a short while. Seeing the Dalek, knowing it had survived had nearly driven him over the edge. Were it not for Rose. Rose, who'd shown it pity, who'd stopped him killing it, who'd walked it to the sunlight where it had asked Rose to order it to die. And it had died, and the nightmare was finally over. Until the Gamestation. His worst fear, the Emperor, had survived and was preparing to convert the entire population of Earth into Daleks. He'd had the Delta wave finalised, ready to obliterate all life in range (including his own) but he hadn't been able to. When all was said and done, adding another incident of planetary genocide to his resume was something he simply could not undertake. To become like the Emperor, 'The Great Exterminator'. So he'd surrendered to fate. And Rose had saved him. And the nightmare had ended. Until Canary Wharf. Where he'd lost Rose, yet saved the Earth, two Earths in fact, by casting the Daleks and Cybermen into the void. He knew it was finally over. That the Daleks were finally gone forever, and somehow, somehow, it had almost been worth it.

But now to find out that by destroying the greatest threat in the universe he had released an even bigger threat that came from outside of it. And now it was here; and he was alone. 'It's all my fault' he whispered, but the others were too busy to notice.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

"Well Rom, lets see if it works". The chief had finished cannibalising his tricorder, a comms panel, and numerous bits and pieces he carried in his tool box.

"Uh…I don't get it Chief. Um…Dots and dashes?"

"It's Morse code Rom – twentieth century Earth. First used on the Titanic…You do know what the Titanic was, don't you Rom??"

"As a matter of fact I do Chief – It's the new pleasure cruiser being built by the Martian Consortium – Five times the size of a Galaxy-class starship. They say it's indestructible, that it's shields are…

"Rom – it's the twentieth century ocean liner I'm talking about. That sank. Hang on, they're really calling it 'Titanic' and touting about that it's indestructible? Blimey. Some people never learn. Anyway. Morse code was used to transmit distress signals. Each sequence of tapping translates to a letter."

"Does anyone in ops know Morse code, Chief?"

"One way to find out, Rom"

………………………………………………………………………………………

Sisko had finished reinforcing the Forcefields between the decks, and those erected between key sections of the station. He'd created secondary and tertiary back-ups in case the shields in place were breached. He'd thought about flooding the station with anesthezine gas, but he couldn't guarantee that the infected crew members would be able to brace their falls when the sedative gas took effect. Dax had confirmed that, despite being under the alien's influence, their vital signs were normal. That at least was something. He walked over to where Kira and Odo were searching for uninfected crew members.

"Major. Constable. Anything?"

"We found a number of engineers in Jefferies tubes in the docking pylons. They have now sealed themselves into the engineering conduits. We've also found a small number of unaffected crew members on decks eight and nine, who are welding the doors to their quarters shut with their phasers. It's the best we could advise them Captain."

"Good – keep looking." He walked over to Jadzia. "Anything, old man?"

Dax was visibly tired, going into her eighteenth hour. Despite the bags under her eyes however, she remained upbeat.

"Hard to say Captain. I've broken the readings down as best I can, but the computer doesn't recognise most of the patterns. All I can really guess is that the particles we can identify may be some form of phased neutrinos, but again, I can't be sure."

"Keep trying Old Man" Sisko said ,"There must be something we can use"

"There is one other thing – the signature now extends fully throughout the promenade, but with the exception of the Bajoran temple. For some reason it is giving it a really wide berth…"

"Reasons?" asked Sisko. Dax was about to reply when she was suddenly cut off by –

"Of Course She is!!!"

The Doctor was on his feet again, beaming. All traces of his former incapacity gone. Odo and Kira had turned and were now looking at him as well, confused like Sisko and Dax about his apparent change in temperament.

"I need to talk to it again. Can we…you know?"

"Do you think that is wise, Doctor?" asked Sisko. "Not two minutes ago you were sitting at my desk talking to yourself – as a direct result of talking with it. What makes you think this time will be different?".

The grin slowly faded, and the Doctor looked each of them in the eye before responding-

"Because of you. All of you. You truly amaze me sometimes, and I think I needed a shock to shock me out of the shock I'd had previously…"He considered his words for a moment, nodded, flashed a quick smile, and continued-

"I mean look at yourselves. Go on. Look. Really…" Each of them looked at each other, and then back at the Doctor-

"Don't you see it? Here you stand, all of you – trapped in a bubble of time within a frozen moment, with a great big energy monster charging around your station, and what do you do? Run? Hide? Cry? Run and hide while crying? 'Course ya don't!! You think, you act, you plan, plot, scheme, endeavour, – the point is you try! You try and don't give up. And there I was, sitting wallowing in self-pity. Not any more, Thank you – all of you. For reminding me how to hope - to fight. Right then - I made a promise I'm afraid I have to break. I said I'd stop it – I was wrong. We'll stop it. Together…"

He again looked at each of them in turn, his eyes meeting Sisko's, remaining there.

"Or we'll at least make sure it can never leave here and is that Morse code??"

Odo answered immediately –

"A-P-T-A-I-N – Captain!" he said, but who, hang on-

"N-O..new word…C-O-M-M-S…O-B-R…"

"Miles!! It's Miles and Rom – Miles uses Morse with Julian on the holodeck!" Jadzia enthused, Captain-

"Computer – restore communications to comm. badge. Miles O'Brien. Chief, can you here me…?"

"Aye, Captain. Me and Rom. Captain, the blue box we found, it's…"

"Don't worry about that Chief, we already have an explanation for that– for now I need to update you on the current situation"

The Doctor watched as Sisko, as calmly as if ordering take out, brought his chief engineer up to speed. After he'd been fully briefed-

"What do you want us to do Captain? Me 'n' Rom that is?"

The Doctor Cut across Sisko-

"O'Brien-Good Irish name. Now listen to me. I need you to protect the Tardis-The blue box. It's keeping us sealed here. In time. At some point they'll try to neutralise your forcefields one by one, and then they'll come looking. It _wants_ me out of the picture, but it _needs _theTARDIS disabled to continue. Reinforce wherever you are, and get ready for a fight."

"Captain? The epitome of propriety was O'Brien, Sisko noted.

"The Doctor can be trusted Chief. Prepare for a siege. We'll update you as soon as possible."

"Understood Captain – and good luck."

"To all of us"

Sisko turned to the Doctor-

"We need to take action – any suggestions Doctor"

"Action? On the contrary, I fancy another chat with our friend downstairs…"

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Sesra's knew that the time ship was all that stood between her/them/it and unlimited freedom. She also knew that it was not offensively armed therefore once she reached it, she only had to worry about corporeal resistance. She would take it whole if she could, for then the multi-verse would be hers – but to do that she needed the Timelord. Should he escape, or be killed, or should she feel even briefly threatened she would destroy it, and make do with just this universe for now. Patience was something you learned during a seeming eternity in captivity. She reached out her consciousness to the parts of her hacking at the relay cables now exposed throughout the bar. She was almost there, just a question of severing the correct wires. A number of her bodies would possibly die when the current was exposed, and she would mourn them and then move on. Nearly there. She considered the Timelord. He wouldn't be too much of a problem. She had almost felt his spirit snap when she had revealed that she new he was alone in the universe. Felt the fear, knew that inside he'd be –

"Coo-ey!! Hello. Anyone home down there? I mean I know there is in fact someone down there, because…well…where could you go? I …"

"TIMELORD!!" The voices hissed. It couldn't be – he was broken.

"You know, I know that I'm a Timelord, and so does everyone else, and so do you as it happens – So why you feel the need to repeat it constantly I don't know. You don't walk up to every milkman you see and scream 'MILKMAN!'at him, do you? I'm the Doctor by the way, and I'm sure you remember me?"

The Doctor!! For the slightest of moments, Sesra felt fear. That one.

"I REMEMBER YOU DOCTOR - THE ONE REGRET I HAD AT YOUR RACES' EXTINCTION WAS THAT IT WAS NOT I WHO" – She was cut off

"If you're going to tell me you wanted to be the one to rip me apart blah-blah-blah personally; please, don't flatter yourself. There's much bigger and much badder than you out there who already have dibs on me, so grab a ticket, take a seat, and get in line".

Sesra was confused. This was not how he was supposed to be reacting. Fear, loss and despair – She'd heard them earlier, yet none of it was evident in his voice now, his manner. She had to try again-

"YOUR BLUSTER AND BRAVODO WILL NOT FOOL ME, DOCTOR! I SAT IN THE HEAVENS AND HEARD YOUR PEOPLE BEG TO ALL THAT THEY DENIED EXISTED, TO BE SPARED FROM THE INFERNO. THEY PLEADED AND"- Again he interrupted.

"Yes they pleaded." His voice was calm. "But I didn't listen. Oh you didn't know did you? That inferno you're talking so casually about? I started it. I heard the pleas and cries of my friends, my family, and my people…" Sesra knew he was telling the truth, the suffering in his voice – controlled yes, but ever present…

"and you know what I did? Well, of course you do. You saw it from the heavens right?"

Sesra, for the first time in eons, was afraid.

"YOU DESTROYED YOUR OWN PEOPLE??"

"Not by choice. It was them or the universe. All of it. In the end nobody won.Except maybe the universe I suppose. And the same could happen here, you know? These people know how far I'll go…in fact they are in with me all the way. The needs of the many must outweigh the needs of the few. If you don't believe me,go on and ask them!"

"YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED DOCTOR I AM STRONG.I HAVE BECOME MANY…"

"And that's what I don't get. Why here? With all of the planets in the Galaxy, why come here? To this small little station? Surely a planet with a few billion bodies would have been far more appealing than one little space station?"

It didn't matter if he knew, for soon he would be in her arms. Or dead for that matter. At this time, Sesra was neither here nor there for either alternative.

"THE VOICES SANG OUT TO ME. BECKONING. WELCOMING. ACROSS SPACE THEY CALLED TO ME, OFFERING ME A HOME, TO JOIN WITH THEM. FOR EONS I DRIFTED, BY WILL ALONE GUIDING MYSELF TO THEM. TO BE WITH THE VOICES WHO SANG OF WELCOME."

"What? Wouldn't let you in with trainers on? happens to me all the time"...asked the Doctor winking at Dax.

"I WAS DECEIVED!! THEY HONEYED THEIR VOICES TO CONCEAL THEIR POISONED TONGUES!! I WENT TO THEM, TO THEIR GATEWAY IN THE STARS,. I WAS LURED ALMOST THERE, INTO THEIR ARMS, WELCOMED. BUT THEY SOUGHT TO BURN ME. THEY CAST THEIR FLAMES AT ME, SEEKING TO END MY EXISTENCE. BUT I WAS CLEVER. I HAD SENSED THIS PLACE, THIS DEEP SPACE NINE , AND THE MINDS AND BODIES WITHIN AND I SAW MY PLACE TO BEGIN ANEW. TO TAKE THESE LIVES THAT WERE HERE AND MAKE THEM MY OWN, TO GIVE THEM THE MAJESTY OF ETERNITY, ACROSS THIS UNIVERSE AND THE NEXT…AND I WILL DOCTOR…SOON,YOU WILL SEE…"

The communicator cut out just as Dax announced-

"Captain, Forcefields around decks two and three are failing, switching to backups!!"

Jadzia manipulated the controls, "I can keep them up Benjamin, but I don't know for how long. The energy rerouting will keep them busy…but they will get through eventually".

Sisko turned to the Doctor.

"Doctor, we can only maintain our defences for so long. We need to know what were up against…"

The Doctor leaned back against the desk.

"It's called the Cyriani – a pretty sounding word. To my people it meant 'infection'.

"Where does it come from?" asked Kira, joining the others around the captain's desk.

The Doctor sighed.

"Now THAT is a long story"

………………………………………………………………………………………


	10. Chapter 10

_**Hi Guys – Next update here – Ta for reading!!Polly**_

"Ok. Seeing as we don't have a lot of time I'll summarize, instead of going through every detail of the history of the Time Lords with this race" An odd expression crossed the Doctor's face; he blinked twice, then a slight grin took hold of his features.

"Something amusing, Doctor?" asked Odo who was leaning against the wall, arms folded.

"Unrelated…" replied the Doctor, "bit of a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern moment actually".

"So, the Cyriani?" Kira continued, not allowing this to digress onto yet another tangent.

"Yes! The Cyriani! Right, first a bit of context. As you've probably gathered from the broken record currently residing in our basement, I'm a Timelord. You don't really need to know too much about that except for the following; Firstly, my people travelled in space and, surprisingly enough, time. Secondly, we did so in what we call TARDIS's – as you know, mine's currently on your lower decks. It stands for time and relative dimension in space."

"Why do you travel around space and time in ships disguised as police boxes?" Jadzia asked.

The Doctor grinned even wider.

"We didn't…well… I mean I do. They were designed to blend in to their surroundings using what we called a chameleon circuit – kind of like a cloaking device. Mine got stuck. In the sixties…um…the nineteen-sixties. On Earth that is. I kind of like it – retro chic. Each TARDIS is alive, by the way. We shared, and I still do share, a symbiotic relationship with them…"He glanced at Jadzia, "Not as profound as a trill joining, but present nonetheless. Right, now we've established that – the Cyriani."

He paused; remembering how this had all began relative centuries previously.

"When my people were young they were tested, and the best and the brightest got chosen for the academy. Here they learned the usual stuff. temporal mechanics, quantum manipulation, physics, cookery, P.E. After graduation they were given their first TARDIS, and sent on 'The First Test'. And that is how this got started. The first test was rather a big moment for my people. You were told to enter your TARDIS, choose a destination anywhere or anywhen, and then return to the academy and give a short presentation. We were never set a question, just told to go, do something interesting and come back. Unfortunately it got out of hand."

"How so?" asked Sisko, dreading to think of the implications of what the Doctor was describing; He imagined both Dulmer and Luxley from the department of temporal investigation having a fit of apoplexy.

"You know how the graduating classes at Starfleet academy usually try to perform some daredevil stunt at the end of their final flight exams, trying to out do the previous year? Well…hang on…"

He reached first into his left then his right pockets, fiddled around…

"Aha – there it is" He produced a gleaming ornate dagger with a fantastic sapphire set in the pommel, and runes along the blade. He placed it on Sisko's desk, and the Starfleet officers gathered round to inspect it.

Dax was the first for it to click.

"That's not…" She said incredulously.

The Doctor wiggled his eyebrows at her flirtatiously.

"No...It can't be…" She burst out laughing.

Again with the wiggling.

"I don't understand" admitted Sisko. He'd never seen it in his life.

"Benjamin- that is the royal dagger of the Osiriet. It belonged to Balthus the redeemer"

Now Sisko, understood, and looked in awe at the Doctor.

"Would you mind telling the major and I what that is?" requested Odo.

"It's the seat of office for the twin planets of Osiria and Sidon. It's been missing for four-hundred years."

"So?" asked Kira, "it's old – and that proves…?"

Jadzia took up the story.

"Four hundred years ago, the two planets were locked in a bloody war. Osiria was ruled by puppet kings at the mercy of the royal council who believed that the Osirians, deemed superior by themselves, should rule both planets. Baltus was young when he ascended the throne and, like his father, had his head was filled with superstition and religious zeal – the method of control favoured by the councillors. At the dawn of his eighteenth birthday he was to declare a war of extermination against the Sido. Millions would have been obliterated, leaving Sidon's resources for the council, but it never happened."

"Why not?" queried Odo.

"Legend has it on the eve of his birthday, Baltus went to the temple and prayed for guidance. It's believed that there was a small part of him at that time which had not been fully brainwashed. He asked his gods whether what he was about to do was right, and asked for a sign. He then went to his chambers, the dagger left in a secure vault in his antechamber. It was guarded by the elite and totally impregnable. Baltus rose the next morning to find the dagger gone. The first thing he did after discovering the loss was have the entire council executed, and began peace talks with the Sido. The peace has yet to end."

They all looked at the Doctor, who had adopted a very sheepish expression-

"Funny thing is, I never intended that to happen. I just thought Baltus was extremely annoying, and that the loss of the dagger would upset him to no end. Hey – I was young. I found out about the praying thing later. Funny old universe,eh?"

"As interesting as that is Doctor, what does it have to do with the Cyriani?" Sisko enquired. Any other time he would have relished discovering the truth about a four-hundred year old mystery, but the current situation warranted haste.

"I'm just illustrating the sort of things my people did during the final test. It's really a show-off thing; The Cyriani came to this universe because of it. It's why it was discontinued. Upon graduation, one of our young timelords whose name I forget decided he wanted to do something to outdo all of the previous presentations. In doing so he broke the fundamental law of travelling in the vortex; that one can only travel through what is possible."

"I don't understand – what is impossible for someone who can travel through space and time?" asked Kira.

"Nothing - through space and time. The whole universe was our playground, and not just this universe. We used to cross realities the way most people go out for chips…before…well anyway. This particular Timelord decided to do the impossible. He entered his TARDIS and dematerialised. What happened next is speculation, but it's believed he strengthened his link with his TARDIS further than any other had. He instilled in it, against the very nature of any TARDIS to believe what is impossible, and to take him there. And apparently, it worked. He travelled outside of the universe…somewhere…else, I dunno. And when he returned he brought something with him, or maybe something brought him back – the Cyriani. We never found out what their true name is by the way. They never told us we didn't ask. I'll give them this though; they were the least melodramatic of the threats we encountered. They hadn't given themselves a name, like the Beast, The One, The mast…"

He stopped.

"What happened when he returned?" – Kira voiced the question they all had in mind.

"It's what stopped them really. You see, most beings having possessed someone with a craft like the TARDIS would travel to the beginning of time and claim everyone. The Cyriani wanted more agents; they have this desire to have as many bodies as possible in one place, making them harder to defeat. This one returned to the academy posing as the Timelord, meeting and greeting all who would say hi. That's where it went pear shaped. The academy had installed sensors to monitor who and what was there due to the sensitivity of what it contained. TARDIS's, forbidden libraries, weapons deemed to destructive for any race to possess. The silent alarms engaged and the council was alerted. Within moments the fleet had been recalled, all of us, and we stopped them."

"How Doctor – How did you stop them?"

The Doctor looked more serious than they'd yet seen him.

"We surrounded the academy – our TARDIS's – in every direction through space and time. Creating an insurmountable barrier. We had them contained, the timelord's taken by the Cyriani, and the few TARDIS's belonging to them. It travels by touch in this dimension you see. So anybody within the box was assumed to be infected. Our president asked it to leave, to free those in it's thrall and return to it's place of origin. In response it slaughtered a number of those infected. Totally. The president knew we couldn't hold our barrier indefinitely, it would allow our other enemies to creep up on our other front which was defenceless. The president asked for a solution…" His expression darkened, "and I provided it. I asked it one final time to leave, which it refused, commenting upon the desperation of our situation, that we couldn't contain it forever and survive. I did what I had to. I linked my TARDIS to all of the others and we created a perpetual moment covering the whole academy. Still within the universe, but frozen in a moment, just like we are now. Everyone in the box was sacrificed. The timelords taken were innocent in the matter, having been possessed for lack of a better word. To make the prison permanent, we translocated it to a part of space in orbit of our world; with no oxygen" They could see tears in his eyes again.

"It was all I could think of. We had to ensure it never escaped. Funny, that never seems to work for me…In the end it was contained, and I was a hero. I didn't feel like one then, and deep down, I never will."

"How does this help us Doctor?"

"Nothing I've said does really, but it helped refresh what I knew about them. You see, the phased neutrinos you picked up earlier exist within the heart of the TARDIS. Talking helped me put two and two together. The Cyriani never had possessed a TARDIS, which would have been any easy way to escape our barrier around the academy – in fact would have allowed all of us to be taken. But it hadn't. Now. In the bar earlier I heard talk of the Orb of prophecy being brought back. The Bajoran people worship the wormhole, where obviously the Orb came from, and the Cyriani itself said that the wormhole tried to burn it. I don't mean to offend you Major", he looked at Kira, "but wormholes do not sit in space and think' I'll invite the Cyriani here under the pretence of breakfast and then burn it from existence. Therefore it's the particle's it fears.It fears the Orb; that's why the temple has been given such a wide berth-"

"How can that helps us Doctor?" asked Jadzia, "we barely understand what the Orbs are, let alone how to weaponize one…"

"Oh I don't intend to weaponize it Jadzia" the Doctor said, shooting to his feet, " I intend to detonate it!!" He turned to all around him, to see them understand his brilliance; Dax looked thoughtful, Sisko looked wary, Odo looked conflicted, and Kira…

"THE HELL YOU ARE, DOCTOR!!"

The Doctor sighed. Why was there always someone to make his life difficult…..


	11. Chapter 11

_**Hi Folks – it all takes off from here – sorry bout the slow update, but I kinda wanted to this chapter right. Thanks for reading…Polly**_

"Uh…they're almost ready Chief. Do you think we'll have to use them?"

O'Brien looked at the mass of wiring now connecting the corridor's force field generators to the two tricorders he was modifying to simulate a strong tractor beam. All he now had to do was programme them to reverse the stream, and then they would effectively have a hand-held repulsion emitter. Rom had been rewiring another set of forcefield emitters to be independently powered should the standard fields be brought down. The question was, O'Brien thought to himself, should he answer Rom truthfully and add to the Ferengi's already rising alarm, or lie to him and face the prospect of him coming unglued should they in fact become involved in a fire fight? Earlier the Captain had brought them up to speed; a hostile race from outside the universe which they now knew were called the Cyriani had telepathically taken control of most of the station's inhabitants, and that they were trapped in bubble of time outside normal space. Moments ago, Sisko had again contacted him via his combadge and instructed him to try to create some non-lethal defences between themselves and the TARDIS, as it was becoming increasingly probable that some of the entity's host would in fact make it past the forcefields in place between the decks and come to destroy or capture the strange blue box, still pulsing in the corridor behind them. He opted for a little of both alternatives-

"To be honest I don't know Rom. The Captain thinks it's possible, but at the same time our fields did hold steady during the Klingon siege last week, and containing a bunch of angry Klingons is no mean feat. The way I see it, it can go two ways. Best case scenario, we sit it out here and the Captain and the others handle things. Worst case scenario…" He slapped Rom on the back, "They make it down here and find out how good this station's chief engineer and his number one assistant are". That should do it, he thought.

"Uh…Chief?"

"Yes Rom?"

"Why was Major Kira shouting at everyone in ops?"

That had puzzled O'Brien. During his conversation with Sisko, he'd heard something about 'destroying sacred Bajoran artefacts,' being shouted in the background and a clearly incensed the Major. For a fleeting second he was glad he was down here in the bowels of the station. He'd seen Nerys inflamed, and knew that when that happened, the further you were away from her the better.

"I don't know Rom, but I don't envy anyone in Ops right now".

…………………………………………………………………………………………

"Captain! Emissary!! You cannot seriously be considering letting him do this!!"

The disbelief in Kira's voice was only matched by the volume.

"I'm not sure I can afford to discount any options Major…" – Sisko could see where this was going.

"That is a sacred Bajoran object that you," at the Doctor, "have no right to even touch, let alone destroy – it's irreplaceable!!"

"Nerys, you should consi…"- Jadzia began carefully…

"Back off Commander!! This is NOT a Starfleet issue!!"

"Major, you..."

"You too Odo!! None of you are stopping to consider…"

The Doctor watched as the thus far unflappable Starfleet officers entered into what he thought of as a slightly ill-timed shouting match, until-

"Alright BUTTON IT!! The lot of you!! This is not helping! Right – lets all take a deep breath…good…Now Major…"

"You…"Kira began, but stopped under the intensity of the Doctor's gaze.

"Please believe me Major, there is no other way. If I had an alternative, I'd do whatever it took it in a heartbeat. But we don't have a heartbeat; time's pretty much up. I'm truly sorry."

"How can you say that – What was it you said earlier? That 'wormholes don't just invite the Cyriani to breakfast'- You have no concept of either what the orbs or the wormhole are, or what they mean to me or my people. Just like you didn't care about the…the Osiriet…You took a sacred relic from them because you fancied a joke. Because you found them annoying. You didn't care about the ramifications, just swanned off home to have a laugh with you friends at the expense of what? A lesser race? Well MY people are not going to suffer because of your irreverence, Doctor, they…"

"You're right. Exactly right" said the Doctor in a calm, soft voice," They won't suffer. They won't be around long enough to suffer – at least not as the Bajorans. They'll be the Cyriani. Every man, woman and child on the planet – gone. Oh sure, physically they'll be there, eating and breeding and aging – but their souls, their pah", Kira looked stunned," will be gone. Condemned to scream forever from a distant corner of their minds at the injustices their bodies are being used to commit. Major", with no anger or affectation in his voice, "if we don't stop this now, if we don't use the orb to destroy them now, everything you've ever strived for will have been in vain; your resistance, your struggles, everything Tell me Major – would your prophets, whether I believe in them or not, have you sacrifice your entire race, your entire future to protect one relic? One relic for millions, no billions of lives?. You're right about thing though - It's not my choice to make, it's yours…"

The Doctor walked away and sat in the corner, idly tossing his screwdriver from hand to hand, ignoring everyone in the room. Kira didn't have any idea of how to proceed. Her heart told her to stop him, to keep the prophets safe from his attack, but her head, finally, overruled her. She walked over to the Doctor, who looked up into her eyes, not saying a word-

"Tell me there's no other way. Tell me there's nothing else. Tell me you faced the same choice… Tell me what the Cyriani said was true…about your world…"

The Doctor looked at her knowing that the only way to convince her, to make her understand was to open up to her, further than he had with anyone except-

"I didn't expect to survive. Didn't want to, to be honest. But if I could go back, knowing what I know now, how life would become – I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't because it was the only way to give everything else a chance."

Kira looked at the others who had retreated to give her and the Doctor the privacy available in the small office and then back at the Doctor.

"Then we have no choice but to do it"

"Thank you, Nerys." said the Doctor.

She nodded then stood up. The Doctor followed her over to the others.

"Then it's agreed?" asked Sisko, "That we will destroy the orb?"

"Oh absolutely!! Signed, sealed, and ready for delivery" beamed the Doctor, "Now - all we have to do is get from here to the promenade, bypassing everyone on the station who's infected, as well as our own lockouts, at the same time protecting the TARDIS from a hostile army, and defeat an enemy which outnumbers us fifty to one – cup of tea before we start anyone?"

Sisko's responding smile was short-lived as a muffled explosion came from below.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Relief flooded through Sesra, and she allowed herself a chuckle at her own oversight. She had attempted to defeat the obstacles placed in her path by the Timelord and the remaining vessels yet to feel her touch by brute force. She had torn at the cabling providing power to her restraints. Her anger had blinded her to her options; her determination to be free had concentrated her focus on bringing down the walls. To throw herself and her legion time and again against that which contained them. She had forgotten to look within the mind of her first host, and those minds of her former colleagues. Once undertaken, a means of escape presented itself almost instantaneously – the energy weapons.

Her first host had been a member of this station's security forces. Forces who had installed weapons lockers at numerous points. The weapons could not be fired as Captain Sisko, her enemies name taken from the mind of Sesra Mero, had engaged the weapon suppression systems. Systems put in place to stop someone using the stations own weapons against it. But firing wasn't her plan. From the information contained within numerous engineers, she had divulged how to overload the phaser and phaser rifles' power supply. Then it was but a matter of accessing the lockers, gathering the weapons, and causing them to overload against the forcefields. The added bonus being that, as she was destroying the emitters rather than the power supply, any backups would become redundant. Through one set of eyes she saw the shield near the promenade come down, with yet another she prepared to allow herself to leave the bar. She would take the command centre first, sparing a number of her limbs to search for and capture the timeship.

Very soon, this station, and existence, would be hers.

………………………………………………………………………………………

"They're overloading hand phasers and rifles against the forcefields, and the walls – we can't contain them…"Reported Odo.

Sisko shouted over to the Doctor and Dax who'd been studying the particle signature of both the Cyriani and the Orb of prophecy-

"We're going to have company up here soon – have you got anything?"

"A plan yes – A means of getting to the orb to execute it…no."Jadzia was frowning; She and the Doctor did indeed have a plan. They would use the sonic screwdriver to resonate the orb until it lost cohesion. Its energy signature, although not completely understood, informed them that if the molecular bonds were to lose cohesion, the resulting release of energy would encompass an area the size of a planet. The station and its bubble would easily be saturated, thus obliterating the Cyriani. On the downside, they didn't know whether the station would survive the explosion which would be contained within the only sphere of existence in which it could travel – the same time bubble.

"Sort of like letting off a particularly nasty fa…like letting a firecracker off in your hand." He amended, not wishing to become too scatological. Question is…" how do we get down there?"

"Site to site transport?" suggested Kira.

"Um…I'm not entirely certain that's a good idea. And no…", again smiling at Dax, at her expression "it's not because I'm a big scaredy cat…"

"I wasn't even going to say it." Her eyes implied otherwise.

"Of course you weren't! Any-y-way, with the amount of temporal radiation bouncing around on the station at the moment, I'd just prefer for my arms and legs to dematerialize in the same place. – Anything else?"

Sisko had already decided that trying to storm the promenade by force wouldn't work – for a start there was the fact that only the five of them remained uninfected. Also he didn't want to injure any of the infected crew members. He knew that given the circumstances that both they and himself in all probability would be blown to atoms shortly, but he wasn't willing to use that to justify unnecessary suffering – he would die as he had lived. A Starfleet officer. A Starfleet captain.

"We could ask the Chief ?" suggested Kira, "Kira to O'Brien?"

"Go ahead Major"

"Chief, we may have a way to destroy the Cyriani, but we need to get from the captain's office to the Bajoran temple without using the transporters or the turbolift. The Jefferies tubes may also be compromised-"

"Sorry Major, I was going to suggest the Jefferies tubes."

'Damn' thought Sisko. They were so close…

"Uh…what about Gul Dukat's emergency escape tunnel?" enquired Rom.

"Rom, What emergency escape tunnel? What are you talking about?" O'Brien couldn't believe his ears.

"The one…that connected his office to docking corridor seven – it comes out about fifty yards from the temple entrance – the exit's hidden behind a false panel."

"Rom…" said Sisko slowly," There's a tunnel connecting my office to the promenade?"

"Uh…yes Sir."

"And in four years you never thought to tell me about it??"

"You never asked…and…I thought because you never asked you knew about it… and I didn't tell you about it because I thought you knew because…"

In Ops the Doctor and Jadzia were trying not to look at each other.

"Rom – I'm asking now. Where is the entrance in my office?

"I don't know…uh…somewhere in your office?"

"I can find it." The Doctor adjusted the setting on his screwdriver and held it out level with his chest. The blue light on the end was flashing, erratically, "Come on, come on, come on…" he was turning on the spot raising it up and down, up and down…YES!! Got the sneaky little blighter…" The light flash rhythmically now, pointed nearly exactly where Rom said it would be.

Sisko didn't know whether to be exasperated or elated –

"Thank you Rom. Chief, are you prepared"

"Yes Captain, we.." A dim thudding noise became audible over the conn.

"I think the party's about to start down here captain. We'll hold out as long as we can" Sisko heard what was unspoken his chief engineers voice.

"With any luck, we'll have this resolved before you have to unwrap the sandwiches.

Sisko out"

Another explosion, still muffled, but seemingly closer.

"Alright, here's how were going to play this. Dax, Doctor – the two of you will take the tunnel to the promenade. Computer. Activate combadge – Jadzia Dax." The computer replied in the affirmative. "The Major, Odo and I will stay here. Once you reach the end of the tunnel you will contact us. I will create a tunnel through the promenade by activating the station's secondary shield generators - which are outside the station – and tune them to repel matter rather than energy.. This will get you past the infected crew members and into the temple. Once there, you will resonate the orb and destroy the Cyriani. It's not a choice I take lightly, but it will be noted in my log that there was no alternative. Arm yourselves before you go, on stun settings only" he added, for the Doctor looked about to disagree. Any questions?"

"Captain, they may know about the tunnel" Odo suggested.

"Possible, but unlikely. I'm the Captain of this station and I only just found out about it – Major?"

"There were rumours" supplied Kira, "but nobody took them seriously. I mean Dukat was far too arrogant to assume he'd ever need to escape from his own office. And if anyone down there does know about it, they won't know where the end is- I can't imagine how Rom knew. In any case, we'll have the shield tunnel in place before you open the panel – it should be easy ".

"Agreed. Doctor, Dax, take a tricorder with you and scan ahead. If even for one second you think there's someone there, fire a full dispersal down the tunnel – that should clear your way for fifty feet at a time."

The Doctor turned to those who were to remain in the office-

"You know it'll come for you – those explosions are getting closer."

Sisko smiled grimly.

"Then you two had better get moving."

The Doctor looked at each of them, a lingering look. He'd only known them a very short time, and initially because they suspected him of murder; he wanted to remember each of their faces in case…in case… He moved to within feet of Sisko, saluted with a flourish and said-

"Aye Captain" His face lit up. "I've so always wanted to say that!!"

And with that, he and Dax turned to the tunnel entrance Odo had opened up during their conversation, and disappeared.

………………………………………………………………………………………


	12. Chapter 12

"Scans show nothing up ahead Doctor – we're alone in here" Jadzia Dax had been scanning ahead during the previous few minutes; since they'd left Sisko, Kira, and Odo to hold out in Sisko's office. They now walked through the narrow enclosure leading them to their target – The Orb of Prophecy. Years of dust, and the almost obligatory cobwebs lined the walls and floors, giving the tunnel the appearance of an old Earth ghost train. They walked cautiously in the small light given by the built-in torch of her phaser rifle.

"Good – let's hope it stays that way" replied the Doctor.

"So," as they walked, "you're really a Timelord?"

"Guilty as charged" smiled the Doctor. He hoped this wasn't going to get too personal. He liked Jadzia Dax, but was not about to open his hearts to her, or anyone else for that matter. It had been nice to let go with Rose, to lower the walls he'd put in place, but he'd paid for that. The loneliness that gnawed at him even more now was a direct result of letting someone in; only to lose them so suddenly.

"My people had legends about you, you know? – The Timelords. Vague stories, so-called visitations; the usual stuff. I didn't really think you existed to be honest."

"I'm hurt, Jadzia Dax" said the Doctor mock pouting.

"It just didn't seem believable. An all powerful race of time travellers, overseeing the cosmos, watching over us, yet never seen. There was a big debate a few years ago, after the Enterprise encountered 'The Traveller' as to whether he was one of you…"

"Oh. Him. He's something else. We've met a few times. Never really got on too well. Difference of opinions." The Doctor wasn't about to elaborate, but Jadzia pushed the issue, curiosity getting the better of her-

"Well?" She said.

"Well what?"

"A difference of opinions?"

"Oh, alright. For some reason he seems to think I'm frivolous…I can't imagine why? He believes that I trivialise the ability to travel in time because –What was that??"

A noise from up ahead. Instantly, Jadzia levelled her phaser rifle and fired, illuminating the corridor in an ambient orange glow. She slowly stalked forward until-

"Just a weevil."

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"So…the Traveller?" pressed Dax after a moment.

"You're very persistent, aren't you?"

"And you're trying to change the subject…which wont work I might add" The Doctor made out her wink in the torchlight.

"He's got this over-developed sense of himself. Taking people on 'inner journeys', speaking in an affected voice – when he's with his mates he sounds like he's from Camden. Um…the Camden… in London…England. He claims to have a deep understanding of the peoples he 'guides', and yet he's never even tried chips!! Major wannabe Yoda going on there, but even Yoda thinks he's a di…"

"Sisko to Dax."

"Go ahead Captain."

"We've reconfigured the exterior shield generators as planned. As soon as you reach the exit, hail me, and I will raise the barrier. How far are you from the exit of the tunnel?"

"Around six hundred metres or so – should take us a few minutes to reach the end. We're having to go slowly as the scanners are not operating to full effect…must be the power conduits surrounding the tunnel."

"Understood Lieutenant, I…" another explosion was heard in the background.

"Dax, Doctor, Ops has been breached. They'll be right on us shortly – Time is running short."

Dax looked at the Doctor, who's face had become grim.

"We'd best hurry then"

Dax stepped in front of the Doctor and fired her phaser rifle down the corridor.

……………………………………………………………………………………...

With an almighty bang the first shield generator between O'Brien, Rom, and those held in thrall by the Cyriani exploded.

"Get ready Rom!!"Shouted O'Brien.

"I'm ready Chief!!" replied the Ferengi, with an almost passable conviction.

The first of the faces emerged from the smoke; Ensign Morris, from the Defiant's beta shift, followed by Miri, a Dabo girl, and another crewmember O'Brien had seen around but didn't know; Ensuring his phaser was on stun, O'Brien cut the three of them down, and fired a few more wild shots into the smoke – to give them something to thing about.

"Rom! – how's the secondary shield holding?"

"UH..it's holding fine Chief, minimal energy loss…power source…is stable!!"

"Good, now grab your phaser and put down anything that moves"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

"I'm keeping the forcefields around the office up captain, but if they keep this up, it's only a matter of time" shouted Kira.

Behind the bulkhead sealing the office shut, the shields could be seen flaring as phaser after phaser was expended against them. Sisko had assumed that they were doing it the hard way as to ensure that the command staff could be taken with minimal damage. The computer was still locked out, and the Cyriani would need both himself and Major Kira conscious to lift the preventative safeguards now in place.

"I'm rerouting extra power from life support and external sensors – that should buy us some time. Constable – despite your reservations, I need you to pick up a phaser. If they touch us, we're taken. I need your help Odo."

Odo walked to the locker and took a hand phaser. He looked at Sisko and nodded.

"Sisko to Dax"

………………………………………………………………………………………...

"Dax here Benjamin, we're almost out."

"I don't think I need to tell you how things stand here?"

"Understood Captain"

And on they ran.

………………………………………………………………………………………...

Victory was growing ever closer. The Cyriani, through it's multitude of eyes watched as it forces lay siege to both the command centre and the tunnel where the timeship lay waiting. The defenders were putting up an admirable fight. A lost cause, a mere annoyance, yet it recognised their similarities; the need to survive. The fight to exist. For the first time it saw it's new children for what they were. She would love them all, and be with them forever….

………………………………………………………………………………………

The Doctor and Dax reached what had to be the end of the tunnel. The partition was held from the inside by a numerical keypad attached to a magnetic seal.

"Think you can break the code?" asked Dax.

"No problemo," answered the Doctor, just have to find the right setting on the screwdriver.

He flashed her a wide smile then set to work.

………………………………………………………………………………………

"My phaser is down to eight percent – how's yours Rom?"

"Almost out chief"

"Then grab hold of a repulsor – that secondary shield won't last much longer "

The Chief and Rom had been firing through their polarized shield for what seemed like an eternity. With each person they brought down, another climbed over and continued the advance. They'd reached the secondary shield, and by sheer force it had began to flicker. Then it died. Nurse Mika charged down the corridor, only to receive a full blast of the jerry-rigged repulsor O'Brien now brandished. He flew backwards, smashing in to a number of his fellows. O'Brien turned to Rom-

"It works!! Rom, it works!!"

"Miles?"

O'Brien turned around. Down the corridor stood Keiko; with Molly in her arms. O'Brien's heart stopped. If he fired the repulsor into them he could hurt them. Molly was still but an infant. The repulsor only had one setting – he hadn't had the time to refine it.

"Miles, it's me."

"You're not Keiko – you're the Cyriani."

"Miles, the Cyriani let us go. To talk with you. To tell you that nothing has changed. Nothing, except I can feel Molly's thoughts, like never before. And she can feel mine. We miss you Miles. Come to us?"

"Don't come any closer! I swear I'll…"

"What Miles? You'll what? Risk hurting me or killing Molly? We love you Miles…"

Keiko walked towards O'Brien; her eyes as they were earlier that day when he'd left them. The Quirky little smile on Molly's face; the one she only had for him. They were getting closer-

"Don't come any closer or… I'll fire" Rom.

"Are you going to let him hurt us Miles?" asked Keiko."Hurt and kill us?"

"Chief?"

"Not now Rom."

"But Chief.."

"NOT NOW ROM!!"

"Miles!!!" Rom had lowered the repulsor toward Keiko and Molly. Emotion overriding thought , O'Brien turned and stunned Rom. Rom slumped to the deck. Molly wriggled out of Keiko's arms and hurtled down the corridor toward the Chief, her arms swinging as she skipped. Stunned by what he'd done, O'Brien bent down and stretched his arms to welcome her. She jumped into his arms and he pulled her close. And understood everything.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Got it. Were ready to go". The Doctor had just found the access code to remove the panel. This he'd abstained from doing until the others in the command centre had the shield barrier in place; It was quite an idea, the Doctor marvelled, of turning the stations secondary shield generators into a hard light generator – like a holodeck, making energy solid and providing them with an access tube from the tunnel to the temple.

"Doctor to Sisko" Again the radiant smile.

The comm was answered, and the Doctor heard phaser blasts in the background.

"Doctor, we have about two minutes left – are you and Dax in place??"

"Yes we are, we're-" Sisko cut him off.

"Doctor, I'm initiating the tunnel. The Kira and Odo are holding them back with phasers. The shield to my office has failed – it's only the blast door protecting us. You must go now!!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Sesra watched as her vessels swarmed through all defences. The engineer had just been taken and…the tunnel!!! Noooooooo!!!Many voices roared at the same time, just as a flicker of energy coalesced along the promenade, creating a box including both the entrances to the newly-discovered tunnel, and the temple. That was his plan. The mind of the engineer told her. Damn him. But Sesra had vessels inside the box, and yes, vessels inside….

"They're coming through Captain. The bulkhead is breached!!"Shouted Odo whilst ducking and firing.

Sisko ducked behind the computer now controlling the energy force-field on the promenade, and fired across the room, hoping his arc of fire would push the aggressors back out into ops. He needed about a minute of uninterrupted time to re-route power to the office shields.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The Doctor looked at Dax, who was checking the maximum stun setting on her phaser rifle.

"Are you ready?" he asked her, already knowing the answer.

Dax winked at him –

"Ready as I'll ever be."

He depressed the top button on the screwdriver. Instantly, the mag-lock disengaged and the panel began to rise vertically. Dax was prepared for the bodies blocking the exit, waiting for them. 'The Chief must've been taken' she thought as she dropped body after body. Within three minutes, the entrance was unimpeded. And she and the Doctor stepped out. Lengthways across the promenade a tingling shield was in place; a shield her friends and co-workers were currently pushing against with impotent rage.

"Nice to popular – I feel like one of the Beatles" commented the Doctor. He and Jadzia moved at a brisk walk towards the temple entrance, and were almost there when…

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The barrier blocking Sisko's office exploded, and debris and dust flew everywhere. Odo was on his feet in seconds, he turned round to see if the Kira and Sisko had been hurt, but instead he found himself looking into the eyes of Julian Bashir.

"Odo" he smiled as he grabbed him.

As Kira watched a tendril shot out of Odo's arm and wrapped around her leg. She stood then, and walked over to Odo and Bashir. Through each set of eyes, Sesra turned her focus on the remaining human – Sisko.

"Captain, " the three said in unison.

Sisko had dropped his phaser in the explosion and was now helpless. He watched as Kira picked up his discarded phaser and blasted the controls for the barrier on the promenade. His last thought was of Jake before he too joined his friends in darkness.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The energy field began to flicker – something was wrong. Holes appeared then disappeared.

"RUN!!" shouted the Doctor, spinning back against the wall to avoid the hands of Quark, pushing through the holes in the field. His fingers pushed ever closer to the Doctor before Jadzia took him out.

"Go Doctor, I'll hold them back!!" yelled Jadzia, still firing through the flickering screens.

"Jadzia I…"

"Run Timelord!!," she smiled, "You can thank me later…now GO!!"

The Doctor turned and ran full tilt at the temple entrance, jumping over hands reaching through the now unregulated energy field that twisted and writhed; opening and coalescing. A duck, a jump, and he was there. It was oddly silent within the temple. Shouts and yells could be heard from outside the temple, but no longer did Jadzia's phaser fire. Taken, he thought. He crossed the temple, walking past the pews and up toward the altar where a small box lay, seemingly glowing from within. He opened the doors on the box.

"Pretty" He said out loud. "Oh well".

He twisted the screwdriver and began to stare into the light.

Before his eyes it seemed to change, to beckon him. Regardless, he began tuning the screwdriver to an acute resonance field – to shatter the thing. He could do this.He must do this.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..The Cyriani stood in the captain's office, having adopted the captain's body now as her main host. Her first action had been to restore all functions of the station. The Timelord, being near the voices in the temple was out of her reach…at least until she'd taken control of ops. He'd said that there were others more worthy of destroying him waiting in the void, those who'd had a better claim on his demise. Soon they would all know her love, and this would be her welcoming gift to them.

"Computer," she said in only Sisko's voice, "Lock on transporters to the life-form currently in the Bajoran temple"

"Transporter locked" replied the computer.

"Transport two hundred metres of the station's port bow"

So ends the last of the Timelords, she thought. Across the station, hundreds of faces smiled radiantly.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

"No…No…No…" the Doctor was working his way throughout his settings, "No….No…No…YES!!! OOH, now were cooking."

He pointed his screwdriver at the Orb and again held his thumb over the button. His thoughts took him back to Gamestation, where he'd faced certain death.

"Maybe it's time" he said.

As he depressed the button he disappeared in a swirl of light.

………………………………………………………………………………………


	13. Chapter 13

_**Sorry bout the wait, wanted this to make sense (I hope it does!!) Pollyxx**_

_****_

The light surrounding the Doctor dissipated, and confusion turned to relief, and then absolute horror as he saw he was back aboard the TARDIS – but not his TARDIS. He spun around, taking in the wooden interiors, the gothic arches, and the smoke which spewed from nigh on every imaginable piece of the TARDIS. The smoke, which neither stung his eyes nor burned his throat, had image but no substance. The ship was shaking violently, yet he didn't fall or lurch with it's motions. There was something wrong with the light too. Everything was as he remembered it, but almost as if the sharpness had been turned down. Everything around him, even the fire seemed muted.

He remembered configuring the TARDIS in this way – his incarnation at that time had had an affinity with this particular period of Earth architecture. Later he'd discarded the design as it served as a constant reminder of the events which had transpired; events that had both caused his ninth regeneration, and served to remind him of how and more importantly why he'd regenerated. Wishing he couldn't, he turned and looked at the viewscreen on the control column – an ancient wooden television hanging on the end of a extending brace. Millions of DALEK ships surrounded Gallifrey, some entering through the atmosphere to rain destruction upon the people below, some in flames as the Timelord bowships blew them apart – only to be obliterated themselves in a barrage of returned fire. Judging by the state of things it couldn't be much longer until…

A movement across the control room caught his eye. Through the smoke, a figure crawled; the figure had a blue velvet frock coat, and his long wavy hair was plastered to his face with sweat and tears. Slowly, painfully, the figure was making his way toward the console, toward the button. The man was reaching now, his fingerings almost in contact, ready to push it, to end it, to end everything – The Doctor couldn't help himself, emotion overriding thought -

"NO!! WAIT!!"

The hand stopped above the button and then moved away. For a brief while the figure remained motionless, frozen. The Doctor watched as it turned around, and he then looked into eyes that were once his own.

"What is done cannot be undone" said his previous self in a voice not his own. The tone was right, it sounded like him, yet somehow the Doctor knew it was not.

"What is this place? Where am I?" he asked. In his mind he was reeling off possibilities.

"This place is your's," the figure replied, "It is where you exist"

"Look, I haven't time to play cryptic games! – The Cyriani is out there and it must be.."

"It is aggressive" said a voice behind him – a northern voice.

The Doctor turned to see a figure leaning, arms-folded against the doors. Same old leather jacket, same big ears.

"It is corporeal" the longer haired, frock coated image responded. "Yet it is not linear"

"It– is–dangerous!! It-must-be-exterminated!!"

A DALEK was manoeuvring itself toward him, it's laser arm locking on as it moved.

"Now I know this isn't real – because you don't exist, anywhere or anywhen in fact."

He grinned, pointing at the DALEK, and then regained his composure. When he again spoke, his voice betrayed nothing of the horror or fear he felt at being back in this place, this time..

"So go on then, what are you?"

As he awaited a response from, well, himself if this were to be believed, an odd realisation dawned on him. The Doctor felt better because of the Dalek's presence. The fact that it was there told him that it wasn't, in fact, there. He would've mused on that except-

"It has questions".

"Oh, you're damn right I have questions! Outside of wherever, whatever this is, people are dying, and the whole of existence is threatened by something a lot scarier than you, and as much as I'd adore a tour of my own memories, I think I'll pass thank-you-very-much; bigger concerns at the mo. So you can drop this ghosts of Christmas past nonsense and tell me what you want – Now."

The steel was once again in the Doctor's voice, showing he would brook no argument.

"It is the end of existence which defines existence. It is natural" Jackie Tyler said from the side.

"It is not natural when it is imposed by something from outside of the universe. Something that has no business being here!" exclaimed the Doctor.

"It is here. What is done cannot be undone" Repeated his eight incarnation.

That phrase was already old in the Doctor's view. And he could hold his anger no longer-

"PEOPLE WILL DIE!!" he exclaimed.

"It claims it wishes to prevent death yet it itself brings death" The scene shifted.

The Doctor was suddenly stood under the Thames barrier. Standing alongside his former incarnations, the DALEK noticeably absent, he watched the closing moments of his encounter with the Empress of the Racnoss. As they did before, the sound of her screams (MY CHILDREN!!) cut him to the quick, but this time, outside of the event, pity rose in him as the empress watched her offspring drown. But it had been the right thing to do, hadn't it?

"It claims a desire to preserve corporeal life, yet shows no reluctance in ending it itself" his ninth incarnation addressed him through burning blue eyes.

"I had to do it. I offered her a choice, I…" The scene shifted to –

New Earth. The Doctor stood and watched as an image of himself, his current self, addressed Novice Hame.

"…a higher authority, because there is none"

"It judges existence by its own limited morality" his eighth commented, "a morality subject to instant change."

"It believes itself above all other races – it is arrogant" said the ninth in reply.

"It must be deleted" spoke the cyber leader from Canary wharf. Behind it, stood in military precise formation, four other Cybermen twisted their wrists and locked on.

"Hold on – wait. The Cyriani must be stopped. If you want to kill me, kill me – but let me stop them first. Or give me your word you'll stop them!"

"The Darkness is irrelevant" a cyberman spoke.

"It is you who are most dangerous", the Editor stated simply, "the Darkness is irrelevant. What is done cannot be undone"

"You keep saying that!! But nothing has been done yet!! Deep Space Nine is being undone, the galaxy, everything!!There is still time!Please, let me go to stop it"

"You will be stopped. Your existence will end." said Jack Harkness, missing his usual sparkle and hubris.

"But all those people!!!Everywhere!!!"

"You will be deleted" The cyberleader said once more.

Inside the Doctor, rage like never before was building. He had won. He'd pulled the station into frozen time, he'd conceived of how to destroy the Cyriani, he'd made it through the promenade to the temple, losing Jadzia in the process- But this rage was impotent, and the Doctor knew it.

The Cybermen lined up in front of him and raised their wrists. He closed his eyes, tears ran down his cheeks, but it was not himself he cried for. He cried for those inside of the bubble and those outside of it after it fell. He expected oblivion, but what he got was…

The groaning and whirring of the rotor arm, the TARDIS fading into existence behind him. He opened his eyes and shot around; and was back on the Gamestation. Once again, surrounded by DALEKS, the emperor on the screen in front of him. The TARDIS fully materialized and the doors shot open, glowing with pure light. Out walked Rose in a halo of golden light..

"It will not be harmed. It will be allowed to speak"

"It threatened us - " the Emperor replied.

"It did not know of us, nor that its actions threatened us. It has twice been our ally."

"It has destroyed, and ended the existence of others of it's own kind. It must not be freed"

"It is not for us to judge"

Everything faded, and the Doctor found himself standing in infinite whiteness,

"Well, this is better than expected – although it's rather bright" he said, scratching behind his ear again. Inwardly he was trembling. But it wasn't over yet. 'Rose' came to him.

"You will not be condemned. But neither will you be freed. It is for you to justify your own existence. You will see your actions before you. You will decide our judgement"

"Okay- 'I think therefore I am – Cogito Ergo Sum. Nice long-lasting, definition – remembered for centuries. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a universe to save and a promise to keep" He knew that he had no conceivable way out of where he currently was – and that eventually they would probably kill him. Well, if he was going out, he was going out as he had lived.

The figure with Rose's appearance showed no emotion as she said. "Your journey begins, Timelord." And everything faded again, to be replaced with…

The Doctor stood in the TARDIS. The gothic TARDIS of earlier. Movement caught his eye. Again. Through the smoke, a figure crawled; the figure had a blue velvet frock coat, and his long wavy hair was plastered to his face with sweat and tears. Slowly, painfully, the figure was making his way toward the console, toward the button. The man was reaching now, his fingerings almost in contact, ready to push it, to end it, to end everything…and he did. Over the hissing and sizzling, snatches of transmissions could be heard-

"…have-taken-the-timelord-citadel" A metallic voice grated, almost with enthusiasm.

"Bring the fleet about, concentr…"the transmission turned to static.

"Doctor, were detecting a massive…by Rassilon!!" exclaimed one voice.

"Please no!! You'll kill us all!!" begged another.

A multitude of voices begged and pleaded, and implored …

…and then all fell silent as the final solution, the solution born of heartbreak and delivered through desperation, laid waste to everyone, friend and foe alike. The Doctor watched on the viewscreen as time itself caught fire. TARDISs belonging to friends, and loved ones burned with the ships of their hated final enemy.

"Existence ended here. By your choice – Do you truly differ from the Darkness; that which you call Cyriani?" asked his guide in Rose's voice – Rose without the vortex running through her head. The Doctor had barely heard her. As if held in a vice he watched for the second time the fall of his people. He'd hardly slept since it had happened…his dreams had been haunted by the screams (Please!!No) of his people, and he had evaded sleep ever since. To see it here again, raw, final. He could provide no answer.

"I…" he began, but the scene shifted again.

And he was back on platform one. He watched as Cassandra begged for moisture, pleaded to be saved, implored him for mercy. He'd had none to give. He turned away not wanting to witness the gore of Cassandra (at least what was left) exploding.

"It cried for mercy." Said Jadzia Dax.

"It showed none to the others here – it was willing to see them burn." The Doctor had no righteous anger now. He said it by way of explanation rather than justification.

"Yet you could have spared it" replied the figure that was now in the shape of Margaret Blaine – the Slitheen.

Before he could answer the scene shifted…

And he was on Earth again. At Torchwood One. He watched as he approached Adiola, the Torchwood operator, and removed the earpiece from her. She crumpled to the desk.

"Could her existence have been spared?" Margaret Blaine asked him.

"I couldn't do anything…it was too deep…it…"

And the scene shifted.

He was stood on the floating hull of the Sycorax ship above London. He saw himself walking with Rose's arm in his, watched as he pulled the Satsuma out of Jackie's boyfriend's dressing gown and consigned the Sycorax leader to death –

"No second chances. I'm that sort of a man"

"Was it necessary to end that life, Timelord" asked Charles Dickens, now stood behind him.

And the scene shifted.

He was beginning to burn inside now. The hopelessness that had engulfed him was been replaced with the anger of the unheard. He'd been asked to justify himself, yet had not been allowed to respond. The light faded, and he was holding on to the ghostwatch lever at Torchwood tower. Rose hanging on for life to the other as the void sought to draw her into it's maw.

"And what of this life Doctor?" Rose asked as she hung suspended in the grip of the Vortex.

"That's it!!" he screamed at her. "That's too far – You can show me all of what you perceive as my wrongdoings, throughout time and space, but not this!! Not her!!"

"Why not her? Why not this one?" Rose asked him.

"Because she chose to be here. She fought alongside me. I sent her away, to be safe, but she came back. Her choice…and..." his voice broke, "I lost her"

"So you believe it a matter of choice?" asked his ninth.

"Yes I do!! She chose to be here, to stand when no other could or would. She offered her existence to protect those around her, her family, her friends, her people."

"To protect them from what?" asked his eighth.

"From that which would prevent them from having a choice!!" The Doctor let go of the lever, his fingers having left impressions on the steel.

"From that which would enslave them. Their, minds, their souls, their hearts. She was willing to sacrifice all she had and was to protect their right to have a choice!!"

The figure of Rose let go and walked to him.

"So you fight to allow others the right to choose?" she asked in a soft voice. He was about to reply when –

"It wishes to protect the right to choose, yet it does not know where those choices will lead" Said Jack Harkness. "It takes no responsibility for the choices those it defends make. It does not know what will become of those choices. It is dangerous."

"It is linear" replied an old man with white hair that the Doctor had never met. A fob watch chain hung from his pocket.

"I give them the choice to be what they are supposed to be – Good or evil, everyone, every thing has the right to choose. And be held accountable for their choices!"

And the scene shifted.

He was again stood in the wooden-pannelled TARDIS, a figure crawling through the smoke.

"And what of the choices of your people?" asked his first incarnation. "Are you to be held accountable?"

"We had no choice –I had no choice!! We were going to lose!! Any by definition everything, all life across space and time would be lost in that moment"

"So your sacrifice was warranted?" asked his granddaughter Susan, her face again causing tears to fall from his eyes.

"I knew what had to be done, what the cost of not doing it would be – I neither expected nor wanted to survive. And I have had to live with that choice every minute of everyday"

"It is not your expectations that are in question. Was your sacrifice worth it?"

"I…I mean, I…" the Doctor was searching for a way to convey to them what it meant, felt like. His thoughts were interrupted as the DALEK emperor boomed…

"WAS IT WORTH IT, DOCTOR?!!"

"YES!!!" he screamed. "Yes it was!!. If I could have done it any other way, any other option, any other means I would have!! But there wasn't time!! I killed my friends, my family, my teachers,…but I killed the DALEKS too!!" He almost smiled. "I killed everything that was dear to me, I lay waste to my planet, my entire planet…but the universe survived. On countless worlds across countless stars, at countless periods in history, beings were born with the right to live as they were intended. You showed me the Sycorax, that I let him fall – he had a choice. By his own rules, the rules of his people, he should have left Earth in peace – he didn't, and he died for it. But I gave him the choice. I offered the Racnoss a new world of their own, to take them there in the TARDIS, but they chose to devour, to consume; and they paid for that. I lost Rose, the one thing in the whole of existence that made me feel alive again, to save her world from it's enemies; enemies that didn't belong there. And I'd lose her again if had too, even though it would kill me – is killing me. Because she's safe, and so is her world, everything she loved. And although I can never see her again, I know she'll have a life and be happy; happy because she has a choice."

"So, you did what you had to? It was the only choice?" asked Susan, now standing right in front of him.

Tears fell down his face, and he cried freely.

"It was the only choice. I had no other way of saving everyone else. If I hadn't all life would've been consumed in a war that it didn't even know was happening. I lost her, the girl whose face you wear. She was my granddaughter. I lost everyone," his legs gave out, and he slumped to the floor where he sat," all I have left is my ship. I had Rose…I've always done what I thought was right…now I don't even have a home".

"You believe what you did was the only way. And in your memories, where we have travelled, you have seen that you always do what is necessary. Sometimes it causes you pain, and that pain you carry wherever you go – but you know within yourself that what you did was both right and necessary?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Then it is time to end this Doctor, as I think our point has been made".

The Doctor turned his body around, and Benjamin Sisko stood there; an older Benjamin Sisko than he had met earlier, older than the Sisko who had stood with him against the Cyriani..

"Who are you?" asked the Doctor.

"Benjamin Sisko, former captain of Deep Space Nine" the other responded with a wide smile.

"I mean behind the image, behind the façade" said the Doctor.

"Just who I say I am" replied Sisko with a gleam in his eye.

The Doctor stood up, confused.

"But you can't be – Benjamin Sisko is on DS9, with the Cyriani"

"I was, but later I ended up here – all in good time"

"But you must help me! We must stop them!" said the Doctor, urgency returning to his voice. They'd let him go, there was still maybe time.

"They don't need stopping Doctor" Sisko continued, "They are gone"

"But…hang on, I mean…How?"

The light around them was changing, growing brighter. One by one the figures from his past began to fade, dissolve., some with a kind smile, others with a solemn nod.

"I don't understand" he said. And he didn't.

"Didn't you know," Sisko said with a wink," What is done cannot be undone".

And the light claimed them both.


	14. Chapter 14

"I suppose I had better start at the beginning, at least," Sisko's eyes gleamed, "what makes the most sense as the beginning".

The Doctor was now sat with Sisko in an old Earth restaurant. The restaurant was furnished with old-fashioned wooden tables and white tablecloths, and was decorated with framed photographs of baseball players and a stuffed alligator hanging from the ceiling.

"I haven't been here before" said the Doctor looking round," This isn't one of my memories".

"Actually, it's one of mine" The waiter placed two steaming plates of Creole chicken before them, smiled, and walked off. "Sisko's Creole Kitchen. My father's restaurant in San Francisco. It's funny," he continued, forking a piece of chicken to his mouth, "that even though this food is straight from my memory, it just isn't the same as when prepared by my father's hands." He gestured to the Doctor's plate, and the Doctor too began to eat.

"The best place to start is three years before our first meeting; when I took command of Deep Space Nine. It was not a post I had chosen; Transferred to what was then a backwater assignment, I was embittered and grieving, a single father trying to come to terms with the loss of my wife. She died at Wolf 359."

"The Borg" the Doctor stated.

"The Borg. I remember telling Captain Picard during my assignment briefing that I did not intend to stay at DS9 long; and I had meant it. But then something occurred which changed my mind, and transformed my destiny – I discovered the wormhole."

"And the beings that lived inside it".

"Yes. The Prophets of Bajor. They exist outside of time. They are not linear, although they do have an understanding of linear time. An understanding they hid from me during our first meeting."

"Why?" asked the Doctor.

"It was necessary. I had a destiny ahead of me, but one I could not complete with the self-recrimination and bitterness I had within me at that time. By having me try to define linear existence, to explain life to them, they forced me to see that I myself was still alive. That it wasn't wrong to try to move on without my wife. As long as my memories remain here," tapping his head, "Jennifer was, and is, always with me. Returning to Deep Space Nine I threw myself into the assignment; eventually DS9 became my home and I started to live again."

Sisko was smiling at him. The Doctor liked this man; trusted him despite their brief acquaintance. But he couldn't see what this had to do with the Cyriani; how it been stopped.

"What happened to the Cyriani? How did we win?" asked the Doctor.

"We won because we never lost" spoke Sisko cryptically.

"Oh don't_ you_ start!" the Doctor joked, partly to hide his frustration - he didn't want to shout at this man.

"Perhaps it will help if I show you this" said Sisko. Their table remained, so did half of the restaurant, but the other half became Sisko's office. Side by side stood a Romulan and a Klingon. Benjamin Sisko was addressing them both from behind his desk, younger than he was in the restaurant, older than their first meeting-

"Then we must take the fleet to the Chintok'a system. Take out the Jem Hadar Ketracel-White facility based there!. We have them on the run. Now is the time…"

It faded back to the restaurant.

"Nope," said the Doctor, "still not making sense".

"We met in my fourth year as commander of DS9. What you just saw occurred during my sixth. If the Cyriani had won that could not have happened. You see,the Cyriani could not have won because the seed of their destruction was placed during my first meeting with the prophets. Remember Doctor, time is not linear here."

"I can see where this is going…I think" The Doctor almost had it, but just needed to confirm his suspicion. But that would raise other questions-

"When did you come here, Captain?" he asked, "relatively, I mean".

"After seven years in command of Deep Space Nine. We had just beaten the Dominion, and the war was over. I returned to DS9 intending to settle down with my wife Cassidy, but I had one last task."-

Again, customers disappeared mid-bite, and the Doctor watched as Sisko fought a possessed Cardassian, Gul Dukat, eventually overpowering him and plunging them both into the flames of the fire caves of Bajor; flames summoned by Kai Winn..

"So I ended up here, in the wormhole, the celestial temple. The prophets brought me home. And when they did they shared everything with me, and I with them. You see Doctor, when you come here your entire existence is perceived by the prophets. It was through my memories they learned that the Cyriani had escaped its confinement and was free again in our universe. It was through your memories, shared with them when you came here although at an earlier time, that they learned when that escape had occurred. In that very instant, they began calling out to the Cyriani across time and space, singing to it to come here, to join with us."

"So when I said that the wormhole didn't just decide to invite the Cyriani for breakfast…?"

"You were wrong." an ever so slightly smug Sisko responded.

"I suppose it had to happen at some point" the Doctor struck back.

"From my memories the prophets learned that the confrontation between the Cyriani and themselves would occur because of events on the station, therefore when it came close enough they burned it a little, just enough to make it back off. They then sent it an image; a small metal object full of corporeal life – DS9"

"They sent it to DS9 on purpose??" asked the Doctor incredulously.

"It was necessary. Things had to occur in order for the Cyriani to be destroyed. They also knew that the confrontation occurred in a bubble of frozen time; something we could not generate. So they sent out another call". Sisko folded his hands across his lap whilst he let that sink in.

"No…Wait…Nah...I mean..." The Doctor had worked it out.

"I spoke with Quark after you left the station. He'd thought you were 'very strange'and 'possibly unwell'. That apparently you hadn't realised you were on DS9 until he told you. You'd said that 'she knew you'd always wanted to visit DS9' You were talking about your TARDIS."

"It was you." Realisation. "But what happened?"

Once more the restaurant was replaced; this time with Sisko's office. Sisko's office minutes after the Doctor and Jadzia had entered the tunnel. The doorway had been breached by an overloaded phaser. Julian Bashir had snuck through; he'd snuck up behind Odo who'd been knocked down by the blast, reached over and touched him on the shoulder, who in turn touched Kira with a tendril extended from his own body. The Doctor watched fascinated as the three then approached Sisko, who was behind the desk. 'Captain' they said as one, and Kira reached out and grabbed Sisko's arm…and began to scream. As one, the other occupants of the station began to scream; it was audible over the conn - throat ripping, blood curdling scream of hate and defiance. A white haze seemed to surround Sisko. The screaming continued and then died out abruptly. So did the white light glowing around Sisko.

"Captain?" Bashir asked, clearly puzzled as to why he was now stood in the captains office. Moments ago he'd been playing darts with a group of Nausicans. Now he was stood over Sisko, blood trailing from his Captains head." What's going on?"

As Sisko began to reply the restaurant wall solidified where his office had been, Sisko again spoke.

"The thing with non-linear time is that the normal rules we apply to time are negated. I knew how the Cyriani were defeated the moment after the prophets brought me here; after the fire caves. Before then, I'd never known how we won, and your explanation was vague to say the least. After learning the truth, what we just saw I went back in time ,so to speak, to the instant when I first came here. I watched, completely unseen, my first meeting with the prophets. I have a connection to the prophets you see – I always have had one, through my mother. It was this connection that ultimately destroyed the Cyriani. I modified it; I intensified it. This modification almost cost me my life in later years, imbuing my younger self with visions of different times – it's how I found the lost city of B'hala on Bajor. When the Cyriani attempted to possess me it's consciousness was manoeuvred into a direct channel to this place. The Cyriani was strong, but it was one entity against all of those who exist here. They stood no chance".

"So it's been destroyed?" The Doctor wanted, no _needed _confirmation.

"In this universe, yes. You see Doctor, it could never have won because the means of stopping it had been put in place three years prior to it's arrival."

"You knew how I would react. That's why you chose me – because of what you knew I'd do, or had done." Confirmed the Doctor.

"From the point of view of the Benjamin Sisko you just left on DS9, it is thanks to your arrival that he was alerted to the Cyriani threat. It was your temporal anchor that held the Cyriani in place, and forced them to come after me. We didn't choose you doctor, we just ensured your arrival. An arrival that always happened. I suppose you could view the situation as a circle, but that circle had to be drawn for the first time"

"Kind of puts the kaybosh on cause and effect doesn't it?" Now he saw what had happened, how the timeline had been protected.

"It's more of a case of first-cause and first effect. From my point of view this is simply how events were always played out – The prophets, and to a certain degree myself, simply played our parts to ensure that what we remember happening in my timeline, happened. We both know that time is a lot more fluid than is supposed."

A thought rose to the front of the Doctor's consciousness; certain things had been explained, but –

"So why the trip down memory lane?" he asked.

Sisko's face became serious.

"That was my idea" he said simply.

"But why? All you needed from me was to alert DS9 of the Cyriani threat, and initiate the temporal anchor. I wasn't actually needed on the station after that."

"In one respect, to protect you. At the moment the Cyriani took my body everything was in flux. Multiple endings to the same event played out simultaneously. The battle took less than a second in my body on the station, but a lot longer here. As the battle was being fought here, every conceivable outcome played out within the bubble, the situation on DS9 varying, depending upon whose favour the tide of battle was in at any given time. The Cyriani couldn't have won, but that didn't mean it gave up easily either. In one outcome the Cyriani won and transported you off the station into space. I didn't want to risk you as collateral damage. But that wasn't why I brought you here. I'll show you why…"-

Once again, half of the restaurant changed, and they were back in Sisko's office. The Doctor saw himself sat at the Captain's desk, his face a mask of despair. The words 'my fault' and 'so sorry' constantly issuing from his trembling lips; his eyes dull and faded. This was after the Cyriani had told him that it knew he was alone, that it was his fault it was free.

"I'd seen a lot of things in my time in Starfleet Doctor; the elation of victory, the tears of defeat, the bitterness of betrayal. Yet only once had I ever seen someone so totally defeated, so broken; when I'd looked in the mirror after Wolf 359. And then you stood up, putting on a brave face. Maybe you thought you were fooling me and my crew, maybe you were actually fooling yourself, I don't know. But despair like that doesn't just stop, fade away in a second. Yet you still persevered; Despite everything you were feeling, feelings and thoughts which had almost incapacitated you, you stood up to help me protect my crew, my station, the universe. I never forgot that. After you left the station, your face in that moment haunted me. I tried to find out about you, who you were, where you'd been, but there were no records. Just occasional myths, half stories, and legends. Everything else was classified by Starfleet. As I told you earlier, when I shared myself with the prophets they did the same thing with me. I finally saw where you'd been, the things you'd done, and more importantly, why you had done them. I also understood that you came here. How else would the prophets have knowledge of your memories? I finally understood what had caused you to break in my office. No man should carry what you do alone. I knew I had to help you, and I knew that you existed here at some point, so I asked the prophets to help me."

"I was never in any danger from the prophets, was I?" It was not a question.

"You'd lost your reason Doctor; the belief in yourself that you had always done what was necessary, what was right. You felt that no matter what you did, you always lost someone or something; that ultimately your victories were hollow. Inside, you believed there was no more room for any more pain, nothing left to be taken from you. You simply no longer wanted to _be_. But buried deep beneath the grief and the heartache was the knowledge that everything you had ever done had been with best of intentions, for a higher purpose – the protection of those who weren't able to protect themselves. The problem was, I couldn't just appear to you and simply tell you that you had one the right thing. You had to be made to realise it again. You had to be confronted with your deeds, your actions, and be pressured, manouveured into seeing it for yourself. That 'trip down memory lane' as you put it was the only way to let you truly see yourself for what you are. A good man trying to do what is right."

The Doctor was utterly speechless. The whole thing, from returning him to his former TARDIS, to his standing with Rose at the Ghostshift levers at Torchwood One, the Racnoss – all of these illusions had been manipulated from behind the scenes by this human, to help him regain his purpose to help him-

"Forgive myself. You wanted me to forgive myself."

"No-one could do it for you Doctor. It was something you needed to do in order to complete that which you have ahead of you."

"You can see my future?"

"No Doctor; but this is not the last time we meet. Peril awaits you in the stars, but so does the potential to be live,rather than just exist. Hopefully, you will face them both alternatives with a clear sense of yourself now, not one distorted by grief and anger.

"I …" The Doctor was awash with emotion. That this man had gone to such lengths to have him forgive himself? When they didn't even really know each other, at least not yet , he thought. And most importantly, he _had _forgiven himself. When faced with what he'd done, his past speaking to him, when he'd truly _had_ to defend himself, he'd felt his old fire come back, his love of space and time – no longer dragging his guilt around the cosmos like an anchor. He was ready to see it all again with new eyes.

"Thank you." Short, yet conveying everything in his heart. He saw that Sisko had understood.

"What are friends for?" Sisko's grin was infectious, and the Doctor matched it with a grin of his own.

"One thing I don't get though. When you showed me Gamestation, when the prophet took the shape of Rose?"

"I thought you might want to know about that" Sisko's expression barely concealed his amusement.

"Yeah…She, I mean the prophet said I'd twice been their allies – past tense – how does that work, or is it more non-linear …stuff?"

The restaurant changed, and the Doctor and Sisko were now walking through an underground cavern. As they came around the corner a great roar was heard, followed by his own voice-

"…and if I believe in one thing! One thing!! I believe in her!!"

He rushed past Sisko into …the cavern where the Beast was held.

"No…it can't be" He watched as he smashed the jars, collapsing the asteroid's orbit of the black hole.

"It was an ancient enemy of the prophets. They'd imprisoned it here eons ago."

Sisko's face was calm and collected; he was really struggling to hide the fact that he was internally relishing the shock upon the timelord's face.

"The only thing we couldn't work out was how you'd survived the fall. You see, there was no air pocket at the bottom of the cavern"

He turned to face the Doctor.

"The prophets are putting it in place for you right now".

"I don' suppose you dad's restaurant has a bar does it? "He asked "One stocked with Firewater?"

It was all he could manage. As he spoke, a white mist slowly began to form. Sisko reached out his hand, which the Doctor grasped tightly, the two men sealing their friendship..

"Thank you Captain" he said.

"Benjamin. My name is Benjamin – I left the uniform behind a long time ago"

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"And Doctor? I would ask you keep all that you have learned to yourself, but…"

"You already know I do" The Doctor finished.

Sisko favoured the Doctor with a wink…and then he was stood in the Bajoran temple, screwdriver in hand, but the box which contained the Orb of Prophecy was firmly shut.

He laughed out loud, put his screwdriver (and his hands) in his trouser pockets, and walked to the temple exit.


	15. Chapter 15

Hi folks – sorry for the long wait for the finish – new job, no net at home etc – Thanks for all the awesome reviews for a first time writer!!

_Captain's log stardate 49018.4_

_There is no trace of the entity known as 'the Cyriani' aboard the station. Chief O'Brien has conducted a level 5 sensor sweep of both the station, and the surrounding sector, and thus far the sweeps have returned negative. The Chief insists on completing the scan a second time, and in light of recent events, I can hardly say I blame him. It appears that the time we spent under the influence of the 'temporal anchor' initiated by the Doctor has had no adverse effects upon Deep Space Nine, and our return to normal space has prompted questions both from Starfleet, and from Bajor's provisional government – questions I fully intend to try to address, after a number of my own questions have been answered._

Benjamin Sisko stared across his desk at the Doctor, his fingers steepled in front of his face. He could not fathom the change that had apparently occurred within the man. For a start, there was the disconcerting way the Doctor kept grinning at him; a grin that for the first time since his meeting with this strange being, was almost reflected in his eyes as well as his face. Almost. A grin that Sisko had woken up staring into in his office. Since that time - time when Sisko had been coordinating the repair efforts of his command - the Doctor had busied himself with supposedly simple repairs to his vessel. He had remained aboard DS9 at Sisko's request – a request he hadn't really expected to be accommodated. But here he was, smiling like a hatter. Sisko couldn't help but wonder what kind of effort it took to maintain such a facade. To appear as carefree and enthusiastic as he did, yet at the same carrying the emotional weight that had crippled him just mere hours earlier.Inside, Sisko made a silent promise to discover more about this man at a later date, when he had time. 

But for now, Sisko sighed, knowing the following conversation would be no less infuriating than it had been the first time.

'Perhaps you wouldn't mind running that by me again Doctor' Sisko said.

'Well...' began the Doctor, once more scratching behind his ear, 'I worked it out. In the temple. The very nature of the temporal anchor acting upon the null space would have negated the thermodynamic, transubneural particles acting upon the orb. The act of resonating it would have caused it to implode rather than explode, thus eliminating our only means of stopping the Cyriani, and leaving us in quite a pickle I must add'

'That part I understood doctor. It's the rest that I find...vague'.

The Doctor for a second adopted a thoughtful expression which was quickly replaced by a smile.

'Sorry Captain, but as I said before your very own prime directive will not allow me to answer you with any more detail than I already have. Wonderful idea really. Protecting the development of less advanced societies by withholding superior technology. Wonderful I imagine except if you're on the business end of it.'

'Whilst I understand your reluctance to elaborate Doctor I must report to my command. I need details -What shall I tell them?'

'Tell them what I told you – I inverted the tenth, eleventh and seventy third dimensional properties of the psionic field the Cyriani was maintaining over your crew. When the host minds began to reassert themselves, the sheer psychic volume diminished that of the Cyriani and it lost cohesion. I then reverted the twenty sixth and forty eighth strings using the orb's energy field as an amplifier and it lost it's temporal cohesion. Bob's your uncle, fanny's your aunt – except on Metrak six where Bob can be both your uncle AND aunt, depending upon his physiological calendar.'

'A very interesting explanation. Interesting give that it can neither be verified or even understood – There's more to this, isn't there Doctor?'

An almost sly expression crossed the Doctor's features as he simply said,

'Let's just say I had a friend watching over me. Speaking of which, I'm late to meet Jadzia for a drink in Quark's – bright girl Jadzia, really I, ...'.

'I'm afraid that wont be possible Doctor.' stated Sisko sadly, this was the part he'd not been looking forward to...

'I thought I'd been absolved of all charges – you even gave my coat back – Oh wait a minute... Quark is pressing charges for an unpaid bar bill isn't he?– doesn't that equate to grand larceny on Ferenginar?'

'I'll be taking care of that for you Doctor, it's the least I can do. What I'm referring to is a little known mandate under article 12, section 31 of the Starfleet charter. It's states that should any Starfleet officer encounter 'The Doctor' he is to be detained on sight, and all property is to be confiscated forthwith. It was transmitted to me as soon as we returned to normal space. Priority One. However...' and now Sisko did smile. 'Given your participation during this recent matter I will allow you to return to your ship, unescorted, to remove any personal items you wish to bring with you into custody – photographs, a change of clothes perhaps. I give you fifteen minutes to return to this office and then I will order my deputies to find and detain you'.

'Right. Best be going then – people to do, places to...oh never mind.I'll just, you know, skidaddle. Allons-y, stage left. Fifteen minutes from..when? Now?'

'Goodbye Doctor' said Sisko.

'I prefer see you later' grinned the Doctor, graspin the captain's hand, again, from a certain point of view.On that note that he walked rather briskly from the office.

...

Mero Sesra made her way toward docking ring three, struggling with her baggage – both her personal effects, and the death of Winters. She was glad it was quiet, with minimal pedestrians on the promenade. The majority of the crew affecting the repair and testing of systems damaged during the station's transition back to normal space.She could remember all of it. The Cyriani, the complete suppression of will, the hands reaching for his throat.The look in his eyes; and she was responsible her hands, her...

'Oof' she cried – someone had walked right into her. As she reached down to gather her things she looked up into the face of the man that had walked into her. In his eyes she saw infinite kindness, and a name. She knew his name as well as the fear that had gripped that thing which had taken her body at the very first time it had seen him – the thing that had...It all came crashing down upon her, and she struggled to hold back the tears.

'I'm sorry she said her voice almost a sob' I didn't see, I..'

'Funny thing about good people. Always feel the need to apologize, even when they've done nothing wrong. Events transpire , unpredictable circumstances hurtle at them like a steam train, upending everything they think they know. The universe throws a curve ball, yet some people will still stand up and try to take responsibility for something that isn't their fault, that never could have been their fault. Like some idiot walking slap bang into them in the middle of an empty street. It wasn't your fault Sesra – no matter how hard you stare in front of you there'll always be the things you wont see coming, and even if you do, there's nothing you can do stop them. What you can do is pick up your bags, hold your head high and walk on knowing that the responsibility is not yours – Only the the decency inside you that demands you search for it. As I say, funny thing, good people.'

Sesra felt as if he could see her soul. She thought of speaking, of saying something to him, but he was already walking away. She thought she could hear him whistling.

...

The Doctor closed the doors of the TARDIS behind him. He walked over to the flight controls and inputted his next destination. He thought about what he'd said to the Bajoran Sesra, about curveballs. His mind tracked back to Benjamin Sisko – what a curveball he'd been after all. His words, 'this is not our last meeting' in the front of his mind. When and where would they meet again?

'Oh well Old Girl' he said out loud, 'let's see what's out there. Um...again'

With that he initiated the engines and sped into the vortex, neither knowing or caring where he'd end up – For thanks to the crew of DS9, and especially it's captain, it all looked just a little bit brighter again.

THE DOCTOR WILL RETURN IN 'OUT OF THE FRYING PAN'


End file.
